Plainville Couple Brings 'Taylor's Message' to Sharon

For Plainville couple Kathi and Chris Sullivan, nearly every day of their lives is a struggle.

For Chris, a former New England Patriot who won the Super Bowl with the team in 2001, his struggle is with alcohol and drug addiction and anxiety.

For Kathi, she must relive her teenage daughter's tragic death every time she delivers her message - Taylor's Message - to a crowded gym or auditorium full of high school students.

The husband and wife from Plainville travel around to area high schools giving their testimonials about the dangers of underage drinking, drug abuse and making poor choices.

For the two of them, recounting the mistakes and regrets of the past brings them comfort when they hear from students and parents that their stories have made them rethink the choices they make in their own lives.

In 2008, Kathi's 17-year-old daughter Taylor Meyer drowned in a stream after a night of binge drinking in the woods near the abandoned Norfolk Airport.

“When they found Tay, she had actually drowned in two feet of water. She had scratches all over her body. She had no shoes on. She had a sweatshirt with rolled up sleeves and she was leaning over vegetation,” Kathi told parents and students at Sharon High School Wednesday night.

“She didn’t die of a brain tumor, she didn’t die of cancer, she didn’t die of a drunk driver. She died of poor choices from herself and her friends surrounding alcohol,” she said.

Making better choices is crux of 'Taylor's Message'.

“When I have to talk to parents it’s really tough for me, because as a parent I stand up here and have to tell you that my daughter passed away from underage drinking. And who am I to tell you how to raise your kids?,” Kathi said.

“But there’s just so much that we can all learn from this. So that’s why I do this,” she said.

Kathi uses what she has learned from her experiences to relay advice to parents and teens.

She began speaking publicly just two months after her daughter passed away and has been doing it ever since. It was at one of her talks where she met her future husband Chris through a mutual friend.

Chris was drafted by the Patriots in 1996 and played six years in the league.

After being sidelined by an injury Chris was prescribed painkillers. What was meant to be medicine for his pain only caused more.

“I never realized that when I took that first pill it was going start a seven year relationship that should have killed me,” he told audience members.

“I started on that one pill. That pill went to more pills, to Oxycontin. Couldn’t get the Oxycontin and eventually heroin. Meanwhile I’m drinking the whole time,” Chris said.

In 2002, his final season in the NFL, he weighed 295 pounds. At his worst his weight dropped to 160.

“I ended up in the ICU. All my organs shutting down and they kept telling my parents I wasn’t going to make it through the night,” he said. “I know I’m fortunate to be here. I probably should be in jail or dead. I understand that.”

Throughout his football career Chris said he made between $5-6 million. In six years that money was gone.

“I lost it all. Every penny,” he said.

Chris has been sober since December 18, 2008. Despite his anxiety at 6'4"  he stands tall when deliver his message.

“For me, and I didn’t see it at the time, every time I drank or did drugs or something it was just a totally temporary fix for what was a permanent problem that I never dealt with,” he said.

The two work together to deliver Taylor's Message in the hopes that it will cause kids and their parents to make wise decisions.

“Every single day, guys, we can make a better choice. When we know better, we do better," Kathi said.

For more information about Taylor's Message and to read testimonials from people who have heard the two speak visit www.taylorsmessage.com.