Tayler (69), the 1974 Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion in Christchurch, is feeling well, after a cardiac arrest in June led to a prolonged stay in hospital and a fight for his life.
Tayler, who lives in Waikouaiti these days, had just gone to the British and Irish Lions match against the New Zealand Maori in Rotorua. The next day, June 18, he was set to head to Te Kuiti for the unveiling of the Sir Colin Meads statue.
"I went for a walk for an hour and felt all right. But when I look back at it now I probably shouldn’t have gone, shouldn’t have done it. I wasn’t quite up to it.
"Just out from the Rotorua airport, where he was in a van to pick up broadcasters Paul Allison and Keith Quinn, Tayler had a massive cardiac arrest.
"They threw me on to the side of the road and started working on me.
"One of the first cars that they waved down happened to have two doctors in it so that was a bit of luck. The fire service who were able to give medical help, were on the scene pretty quickly," Tayler said.
With no blood going to his brain for 15 minutes, Tayler’s life hung in the balance and he was rushed to Rotorua Hospital.
His family flew to Rotorua and were bedside as it was not known whether he would pull through.
But Tayler was a fighter and the assistance he received immediately after his cardiac arrest helped him get through the first few days.
He was eventually admitted to three more hospitals — Burwood Dunedin and Wakari — as he went through a long period of rehabilitation.
"You just don’t realise how many people you know and want to get in touch. Then you get all that medical help. I can’t speak highly enough of all the people who helped me."
Now more than six months later, Tayler says he is feeling fine.
"Actually over the past two weeks and 10 days I have been feeling a lot better. Just making some real progress with what I am doing."
He sees a physiotherapist and psychologist for treatment and has a computer chip installed in his chest which is linked to a computer in his home which can tell if his heart is running into any problems. He had visited his GP yesterday and got the thumbs-up.
This week he took part in the promotion of the Queen’s Baton in Christchurch.
Tayler said his short-term memory was not great but his long-term memory was better than it had ever been.
"I can’t remember that I had six people staying at my house for the Highlanders game against the Lions. They stayed for three nights but I can’t remember a thing about that."
What was surprising was his long-term memory had improved.He can now remember more events surrounding his win at the Commonwealth Games in 1974.
One is the fact that in the warm-up area, he stayed behind as all the other runners moved towards the track and was then met by triple Olympic champion Peter Snell, who gave him some encouraging words.
Tayler said these sorts of memories were coming back to him.
Tayler never managed to catch up with Meads in person, as both men were ill.
But Tayler contacted the All Black great a week before he died.
"I had caught up with him in May and we had a good talk. We used to talk once a week. The week before he died I spoke to him in hospital on the phone and we had a good half-hour talk.
"I tried to get hold of him the next Sunday morning but he had just passed away."
Tayler, who had been given leave from his job as South Island sales manager for Advance Gaming, said he was looking forward to a real family Christmas in Christchurch and then would head back to Dunedin.
"Good old Dunedin. It’s a magical place and so many people have been great to me."
