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Terminally ill grandfather calling on state officials to change vaccine distribution plan

Posted at 9:24 PM, Jan 07, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-08 01:26:09-05

AVON, Colo. — It wasn't long ago Bob Taylor retired to Avon, hoping to continue with his passion for skiing. Plans changed in the summer of 2019.

"They determined that I had a very very rare form of prostate cancer," Taylor said. "I have tumors all over my bones."

Doctors gave him no more than two years. That was a year-and-half ago.

"I feel like the best remaining part of my life is slipping away," Taylor told Denver7.

Because like most of us, Taylor has to wait for his COVID-19 vaccination. Under current state guidelines, the 67-year-old falls under Phase 2, where 60 to 69 year olds and those at high risk are eligible.

"To say all 70-year-olds are in worse shape to me, that’s just not true and I don’t understand it," Taylor said.

Phase 2 isn't expected to begin until Spring. Meaning, at the earliest, Taylor must wait about three months. Time he simply doesn't have.

"People who have a terminal timeline haven’t even been discussed," Taylor said.

Taylor is calling on the state to prioritize terminal patients when Phase 2 begins.

"A year from now this will be a bad dream for you and life will go on. My time is taken away from me and that’s what weighs on my mind every day," Taylor explained.

When Taylor does get the vaccine, whenever that may be, this husband, father, and grandfather already knows what he'll do first.

"Get in the car and drive 18 hours to Louisville, stay in a hotel and eat dinner at a restaurant. As silly as that sounds, that would be just an unbelievable relief," Taylor said.

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