Taylor MH
Encyclopedia
Mike Taylor also known by the alias Taylor MH, is an English
athlete, public speaker, and author
from Stourbridge
, England
. After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
(MS) at the age of 26, he became the first person with MS to successfully swim a relay of the English Channel
in 1997. Despite being unable to use his legs, he later completed a swimming relay of Loch Lomond
in Scotland
, a relay from Majorca to Menorca in the Balearic Islands
, and three team relays from Santa Catalina Island
to Santa Monica
in California
. In each case he raised funds to donate to non-profits such as the Multiple Sclerosis Society
and the Myelin Research Project. He also founded the MS charity foundation Turning the Tides (TTT). Taylor is a frequent public speaker and has announced that he is releasing his memoir Making a Splash on History Publishing in 2012.
, Stourbridge
England
. He is the youngest of three children, and at an early age had a strong affinity for sports, stating "as a child I drove everyone mad - I was always up to mischief; I lived outdoors, doing sports or riding my motocross
bike." As a child he participated in cricket
and mountain biked
, and in school he played rugby
for the Stourbridge Rugby Club
and ran for the Midlands. He also hiked and skied.
Taylor has also stated he loved water and watersports from a young age, saying "At the age of three, much to the horror of my mother, my uncle threw me in at the local pool and I simply swam to the ladder with a big grin on my face. From that moment I never looked back. I was never trained to swim, it came naturally." He swam competitively in school, later rowed for a Birmingham
club, and picked up windsurfing
and water skiing
.
at Canterbury
, Taylor moved to London
to begin his career. While working as a graphic designer for a large London agency he temporarily lost sight in his left eye, and assumed it was stress. At age 26 he was given the opportunity to travel, and purchased a cheap ticket to travel the world, working in multiple countries. He ended up working in a design company in Perth, Australia
, before eventually moving back to London to join as a creative director at the multinational company Interbrand
.
and buses increasingly difficult, and finally went to a sports physiotherapist for treatment in 1993. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
at the age of 27.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is currently untreatable and leads to physical degeneration. However, Taylor attempted to continue living as normal; he fixed a string to the gear lever of his racing bike so he could continue to use it, bought his first house, and started his own graphic design company, "Spirit Partnership." Taylor's limp continued to progress to the point that within three months he needed a walking stick. A few years later he needed to use a wheelchair, and has stated "I was at rock bottom. It was like my life was over."
Taylor became determined to regain his fitness, and found that cold water relieved some of the pain and cramps of MS. In 1997, at the age of 32, he had moved to Lavender Garden, Battersea
. He also began training at the Tooting Bec Lido
, the largest open-air unheated swimming pool in London. However, he stated "I got bored swimming up and down in a pool all the time and decided to stretch myself further," and began a five-month training regime in order to swim the English Channel
. He placed an advertisement on the Tooting Bec Lido notice board for volunteers to join him in a relay, and began training with five other swimmers for the 21 mile swim.
The swim
Taylor's relay swim across the English Channel took place on August 11, 1997. He utilized a special wet suit shorts to keep his legs afloat, and the team left from Dover
and ended in Calais, France. Among Taylor's fellow relayers were Alistair Park, Hilary Kempton, Margy Sullivan, and Veronique Dochain, each taking hour-long shifts in the water while the rest paced alongside in a boat. Taylor stated "I was the first to swim in the water and I was terrified. I set off just before 4am and it was pitch black. I swam for the first hour and then the others, who were on a boat, took it in turns. It took about 13 hours and 42 minutes. When we arrived, we shook the hands of French people, they were lying on the beach and wondering what the hell was going on. We had champagne on the boat. It was the best."
Taylor was the first man with diagnosed MS to take part in a swim across the English Channel. He and his fellow swimmers fundraised more than £30,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society
and the Myelin Research Project.
's Loch Lomond
.
of the Mediterranean Sea
. Taylor, at that point 33 years old, swam two hours in the relay and stated "It was the most incredible and exhausting swim of my life. At the beginning the sea was like a mill pond, but when the wind picked up - swimming through very choppy waters became a real test of fitness. It was like swimming uphill."
from Santa Catalina Island
to Santa Monica
. The relay lasted over 17 and a half hours for 38 miles. Taylor stated "During the swim dolphins accompanied us for most of the way, but there was a shark following us for some of the way." The group again used the event to raise funds for MS research, totaling £15,000 for MS research. At that point in his life Taylor lived in Balham
, London.
Later iterations
Taylor has organized and participated in the Catalina swim three times.
When it took place again on September 29, 2001, there were eight international relay teams participating, each team with one swimmer with MS. Former Olympic
medalist Duncan Goodhew
swam with Taylor on his team. Proceeds from fund-raising were all donated the Myelin Project.
replacement research by Dr. Timothy Vollmer of Yale University
. In 2004 The Charity Commissioners approved a request from Taylor and other TTT trustees to close down TTT as a separate entity and transfer funds to the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Center (MSRC).
with his wife Helen, a local Californian whom he met after his third Santa Monica relay.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
athlete, public speaker, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
from Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
(MS) at the age of 26, he became the first person with MS to successfully swim a relay of the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
in 1997. Despite being unable to use his legs, he later completed a swimming relay of Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond is a freshwater Scottish loch, lying on the Highland Boundary Fault. It is the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area. The lake contains many islands, including Inchmurrin, the largest fresh-water island in the British Isles, although the lake itself is smaller than many Irish...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, a relay from Majorca to Menorca in the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
, and three team relays from Santa Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
to Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. In each case he raised funds to donate to non-profits such as the Multiple Sclerosis Society
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a British medical research charity dedicated to curing the neurological condition multiple sclerosis...
and the Myelin Research Project. He also founded the MS charity foundation Turning the Tides (TTT). Taylor is a frequent public speaker and has announced that he is releasing his memoir Making a Splash on History Publishing in 2012.
Early life
Michael Taylor was born in 1964 to Graham and Brenda Taylor of PedmorePedmore
Pedmore is a residential suburb of Stourbridge in the West Midlands of England. It was originally a village in the Worcestershire countryside until extensive housebuilding during the interwar years saw it gradually merged into Stourbridge.- Amenities :...
, Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He is the youngest of three children, and at an early age had a strong affinity for sports, stating "as a child I drove everyone mad - I was always up to mischief; I lived outdoors, doing sports or riding my motocross
Motocross
Motocross is a form of motorcycle sport or all-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed off road circuits. It evolved from trials, and was called scrambles, and later motocross, combining the French moto with cross-country...
bike." As a child he participated in cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and mountain biked
Mountain biking
Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
, and in school he played rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
for the Stourbridge Rugby Club
Stourbridge R.F.C.
Stourbridge RFC are a Rugby Union side based in Stourbridge, West Midlands.They play their home games at Stourton Park, which was redeveloped in 2003 to provide a larger clubhouse and social area which can also be used for weddings and other functions...
and ran for the Midlands. He also hiked and skied.
Taylor has also stated he loved water and watersports from a young age, saying "At the age of three, much to the horror of my mother, my uncle threw me in at the local pool and I simply swam to the ladder with a big grin on my face. From that moment I never looked back. I was never trained to swim, it came naturally." He swam competitively in school, later rowed for a Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
club, and picked up windsurfing
Windsurfing
Windsurfing or sailboarding is a surface water sport that combines elements of surfing and sailing. It consists of a board usually two to four metres long, powered by the orthogonal effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a...
and water skiing
Water skiing
thumb|right|A slalom skier making a turn on a slalom waterski.Waterskiing is a sport where an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation on a body of water, skimming the surface.-History:...
.
Early career
After obtaining a degree in graphic designGraphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
at Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
, Taylor moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to begin his career. While working as a graphic designer for a large London agency he temporarily lost sight in his left eye, and assumed it was stress. At age 26 he was given the opportunity to travel, and purchased a cheap ticket to travel the world, working in multiple countries. He ended up working in a design company in Perth, Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, before eventually moving back to London to join as a creative director at the multinational company Interbrand
Interbrand
Interbrand, a division of Omnicom, is a global branding consultancy, specializing in vast brand services, including brand analytics, brand strategy, brand valuation, corporate design, digital brand management, and naming...
.
MS diagnosis
While traveling, and a few months after he had temporarily lost his sight in his left eye, Taylor developed a slight limp, and assumed it was an old sporting injury. Upon his return to London he found subwaysRapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
and buses increasingly difficult, and finally went to a sports physiotherapist for treatment in 1993. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
at the age of 27.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is currently untreatable and leads to physical degeneration. However, Taylor attempted to continue living as normal; he fixed a string to the gear lever of his racing bike so he could continue to use it, bought his first house, and started his own graphic design company, "Spirit Partnership." Taylor's limp continued to progress to the point that within three months he needed a walking stick. A few years later he needed to use a wheelchair, and has stated "I was at rock bottom. It was like my life was over."
English Channel relay
TrainingTaylor became determined to regain his fitness, and found that cold water relieved some of the pain and cramps of MS. In 1997, at the age of 32, he had moved to Lavender Garden, Battersea
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
. He also began training at the Tooting Bec Lido
Tooting Bec Lido
Tooting Bec Lido is an open-air fresh water swimming pool in South London. It is the largest swimming pool by surface area in the United Kingdom, being 100 yards long and 33 yards wide....
, the largest open-air unheated swimming pool in London. However, he stated "I got bored swimming up and down in a pool all the time and decided to stretch myself further," and began a five-month training regime in order to swim the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
. He placed an advertisement on the Tooting Bec Lido notice board for volunteers to join him in a relay, and began training with five other swimmers for the 21 mile swim.
The swim
Taylor's relay swim across the English Channel took place on August 11, 1997. He utilized a special wet suit shorts to keep his legs afloat, and the team left from Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
and ended in Calais, France. Among Taylor's fellow relayers were Alistair Park, Hilary Kempton, Margy Sullivan, and Veronique Dochain, each taking hour-long shifts in the water while the rest paced alongside in a boat. Taylor stated "I was the first to swim in the water and I was terrified. I set off just before 4am and it was pitch black. I swam for the first hour and then the others, who were on a boat, took it in turns. It took about 13 hours and 42 minutes. When we arrived, we shook the hands of French people, they were lying on the beach and wondering what the hell was going on. We had champagne on the boat. It was the best."
Taylor was the first man with diagnosed MS to take part in a swim across the English Channel. He and his fellow swimmers fundraised more than £30,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a British medical research charity dedicated to curing the neurological condition multiple sclerosis...
and the Myelin Research Project.
Loch Lomond relay
In 1998, Taylor took part in a second 22 mile swimming relay across ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
's Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond is a freshwater Scottish loch, lying on the Highland Boundary Fault. It is the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area. The lake contains many islands, including Inchmurrin, the largest fresh-water island in the British Isles, although the lake itself is smaller than many Irish...
.
Mediterranean relay
Taylor and his team continued to train at the Tooting Bec Lido, and in 1998 they undertook a 25 mile swim from Majorca to Menorca in the Balearic IslandsBalearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. Taylor, at that point 33 years old, swam two hours in the relay and stated "It was the most incredible and exhausting swim of my life. At the beginning the sea was like a mill pond, but when the wind picked up - swimming through very choppy waters became a real test of fitness. It was like swimming uphill."
California relays
On September 18, 1999, Taylor and his relay team swam off the coast of CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
from Santa Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
to Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
. The relay lasted over 17 and a half hours for 38 miles. Taylor stated "During the swim dolphins accompanied us for most of the way, but there was a shark following us for some of the way." The group again used the event to raise funds for MS research, totaling £15,000 for MS research. At that point in his life Taylor lived in Balham
Balham
Balham is a district of London, EnglandBalham can also refer to:*Balham, Ardennes, a commune in France*Balham station, railway and tube station in Balham, London*Balaam, a Biblical figure...
, London.
Later iterations
Taylor has organized and participated in the Catalina swim three times.
When it took place again on September 29, 2001, there were eight international relay teams participating, each team with one swimmer with MS. Former Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
medalist Duncan Goodhew
Duncan Goodhew
Duncan Alexander Goodhew MBE is a British swimming athlete. After swimming competitively in America as a collegian at North Carolina State University, he was an Olympic swimmer for Great Britain and won Olympic gold and bronze medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.-Biography:Goodhew...
swam with Taylor on his team. Proceeds from fund-raising were all donated the Myelin Project.
Turning the Tides
Taylor co-founded the international charity foundation "Turning the Tides" (TTT). The organization's stated goal is to support positive, result-driven MS Research, particularly in the Phase One Trial stage of research in MS Repair, which many major establishments have overlooked for its potential risk. In particular TTT is known for organizing fund raising events that have reached global audiences in the millions, and helping fund myelinMyelin
Myelin is a dielectric material that forms a layer, the myelin sheath, usually around only the axon of a neuron. It is essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system. Myelin is an outgrowth of a type of glial cell. The production of the myelin sheath is called myelination...
replacement research by Dr. Timothy Vollmer of Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. In 2004 The Charity Commissioners approved a request from Taylor and other TTT trustees to close down TTT as a separate entity and transfer funds to the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Center (MSRC).
Public speaking
Taylor has spent much of his career as an MS sufferer, and while he had never done public speaking prior to his diagnosis, he soon became an active public speaker. He has stated he loves it and enjoys the benefits others get from him, saying "Frankly, most people don't have a disability as dramatic as MS. They see themselves as 'not enough' — not thin enough, not creative enough, not smart enough, not educated enough — whatever. And they become obsessed with their 'not enough-ness.' So life just continues to agree with them. It’s a self-fulfilling prophesy, isn't it? Life is to be lived and I encourage people to live it." His signature speech is titled The Domain of Opportunity — a Simple Shift of Focus.Memoir
Taylor is currently in the process of writing a book about his experiences. Titled Making a Splash, it is set to be released by History Publishing in 2012.Personal life
Taylor currently lives in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
with his wife Helen, a local Californian whom he met after his third Santa Monica relay.
See also
- English Channel crossings
- List of successful English Channel swimmers
External links
- Making a Splash Official Website
- Mike Taylor's BlogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
- Mike Taylor on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Mike Taylor on FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...