Taylor finds tiny scratch his most dangerous challenge

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 5, 2003

BEREA - The tiny scratch on Ben Taylor's right elbow was no big deal. It wasn't even big enough to warrant a Band-Aid.

The Cleveland Browns' second-year linebacker figured it was just like countless other scrapes and nicks he had gotten during a lifetime playing football.

Taylor was tough, and this was nothing.

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Never would he have imagined the seemingly innocent scratch could have killed him.

''A little scratch,'' Taylor said, examining the bandage covering 12 stitches in the 3 1/2-inch incision in his arm. ''It's crazy how things go sometimes.''

Taylor is still recuperating from a staph infection in his elbow that required him to undergo two operations and led to a five-day stay in the hospital.

Two weeks ago, Taylor figured he had the flu when he awoke in the middle of the night with a slight fever and body aches. He went to the Browns' training facility the next morning, intent on practicing. But he began feeling worse during team meetings one day before the Browns played the Pittsburgh Steelers.

''My body started to shut down,'' he said. ''I was going to go out and practice and figured I'd get checked out afterward. I'm kind of lucky that I didn't.''

Taylor told the Browns' medical staff he wasn't feeling well, and after examining him, they decided to transport him to the Cleveland Clinic. By the time he arrived at the hospital, Taylor said he was shaking from a high fever griping his body.

''My temperature had gone from 99-degrees to 103 in a half-hour,'' he said. ''It's kind of crazy how something like that can happen.''

Doctors quickly diagnosed the staph infection after seeing Taylor's elbow and told him he would need an immediate operation.

While he was waiting to have the procedure, Taylor said his girlfriend began to learn just how sick he was. She was in the waiting room with the family of a young boy, who was having one of his legs amputated because of a staph infection.

''Now I know things can happen like that,'' Taylor said. ''My sister knows someone who was paralyzed after a staph infection. I had heard the term but I didn't know what that could do to your body.

''When the doctors first told me about it, they didn't make a big deal about it. After we got it all taken care of, they said it could be life-threatening.''

Doctors removed the bursa sac, cleaned out as much of the infection as they could and inserted drains in Taylor's elbow. Three days later, they opened Taylor's arm again to make sure the staph had been eradicated.

Taylor was limited to just intravenous fluids for his first two days in the hospital, and the 6-foot-2, 245-pounder lost 10 pounds during his stay.

The former Virginia Tech standout still doesn't know how he contracted the bacteria.

''No clue,'' he said. ''It could have been on the (artificial) turf or the hot tub or any number of things.''

Taylor, who is listed as questionable for Monday night's game against the St. Louis Rams, said he'll never take any injury - big or small - for granted again.

''I'll make sure I check myself everywhere, make sure I'm clean,'' he said. ''The scratch wasn't anything and somehow it got in there. It kind of makes you think a little bit.''