Taylor Gough’s life changed forever three years ago.
At 20, Gough was part of the Leicester Tigers academy – playing with a gifted group of players that featured three future England internationals in George Martin, Freddie Steward and Jack van Poortvliet with the team winning the academy league unbeaten.
Then, just as the club was set to return to training following a three-month break because of the coronavirus pandemic, Gough was involved in a serious car crash that has left him paralysed from the chest down.
He recalls: “On June 14 2020, I crashed my car into a tree. I was rushed to hospital and woke up ten days later, not knowing what had happened or where I was because they had put me into a coma. I was paralysed, I couldn’t move from my chest down.
“I spent a month in ITU and then went to a high intensity unit, major trauma and up to Sheffield. I was in hospital about three months all in all, for a spinal cord injury that is quite a short time.”
It was while he was in Sheffield that Gough received the news that he was paralysed. Understandably, that was a really difficult conversation, but by working with the Matt Hampson Foundation, he has been able to rebuild his life.
The parallels between Gough and Hampson are obvious – Hampson was also on the books at Tigers when he experienced a life-changing injury at the age of 20, leaving him paralysed from the neck down.
Having launched the Foundation, with the Get Busy Living Centre which was opened in 2017, Hampson has set about helping young people with life-changing injuries.
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Gough is one of those beneficiaries, with the two becoming very close over the three years since the accident.
He said: “I was very aware of the Foundation, I’d been up there able-bodied so it was weird going back there having previously used the facility.
“Matt’s a great bloke, he’s a good friend. We go to watch Tigers most weeks so I see him most weeks. He’s up at the Foundation a lot so I see him a lot, we have a chat and I see how he’s getting on, he sees how I’m getting on.”
Accepting the reality of his new life was not easy for Gough, particularly that first conversation where the bad news was delivered.
However, with the help of the Foundation, he has set new objectives – which inevitably involve the world of sport.
He said: “You have to surround yourself with positive people and the Foundation is full of those kinds of people. Just to know that your life isn’t over, you can still do things and everyone at the Foundation, the staff there will talk with you about what you can do, how you can do it and different ways around certain situations which helps you lead a more entertaining life.
“There is not much else you can do apart from get on with it. The Foundation have a counsellor whose son is paralysed so she gets the whole paralysis and the challenges that we face. Speaking to her is a good way to get over that kind of thing and get your head around the whole situation.”
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While he was a relative latecomer to rugby, starting at the age of 14 at Syston before ending up in the Tigers academy, Gough has always been a sport lover.
Since his accident, he has tried his hand at a host of different activities, from water-skiing to indoor sky-diving, with some wheelchair rugby and basketball thrown in for good measure.
The latest one is canoeing with grand plans already in place to earn a spot at the Paralympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
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Gough explained: “I play basketball, rugby and I’ve just got into canoeing as well. My classification isn’t in the Paralympics for 2024 Paris, they think it is going in for LA. That is my goal, to go to LA in canoeing.”
If he manages that, he will imitate his girlfriend, Kylie Grimes, who was part of the Paralympics GB side that won wheelchair rugby gold in Tokyo two years ago.
Those big dreams, along with plans to get involved in motivational speaking, all started with the work done at the Matt Hampson Foundation, to whom Gough is incredibly grateful.
He added: “The Foundation help me massively and have helped me since my accident but on the flip side, I talk to people and help beneficiaries out. So they have helped me and now I can help people coming through as well, it’s a good two-way street.”
The Matt Hampson Foundation, an official charity partner of the British & Irish Lions, aims to inspire and support anyone in the UK who suffers a life-changing injury through sport with the provision of physical and mental well-being support.
