Former UW backup QB Barton fighting serious medical conditions

It seemed at the time like just another bad break for a player whose college football career had been full of them.

Last December, as the Huskies were preparing for the Sun Bowl against Purdue, UW backup quarterback Taylor Barton suffered a freak off-field accident that knocked him out of action, breaking a pinkie knuckle on his right hand when a roommate came running through a door. The injury came just days after UW coach Rick Neuheisel had told Barton — who had been forced to sit behind Cody Pickett most of his career — that he definitely would see meaningful action in his last college game.

"I look at that now and see my body was just in deteriorating health," said Barton.

Just how bad, no one really knew.

As Barton spoke yesterday, he lay in a hospital near his hometown of Beaverton, Ore., recovering from the latest in a series of complications resulting from surgery in August to remove his colon, which had been rendered useless by ulcerative colitis, a disease that causes inflammation and sores in the lining of the intestine.

He hopes to soon have surgery to attach a colostomy bag so that he can eventually resume normal bodily functions.

But first, Barton has to recover from two infections that returned him to the hospital in the past week with a temperature of 104.5. He hopes to get out in the next few days, but can't leave until the temperature subsides.

"It's been a daily battle," Barton said.

One that began, unknown to almost everyone at Washington, in fall 2001, shortly after his one big moment of glory with the Huskies, when he led UW to a last-play 27-24 win over USC after relieving Pickett. The following week, Barton started his only game for UW at UCLA and was sacked four times and knocked down numerous times.

He stayed the night in a Los Angeles hospital to treat a concussion and dehydration. Soon after, Barton began noticing blood in his bowel movements.

"It just got worse and worse," he said. By the early months of 2002, Barton said he would have to go to the bathroom 10 to 15 times a day and every time, "it was just pure liquid blood."

The colitis was diagnosed in March 2002. Barton says no one knows what caused it, though he doesn't think the battering he took against UCLA was to blame. He was prescribed the steroid prednisone, which initially made things better.

But the condition worsened during two-a-day practices in August 2002. He left the team for several days in September to see doctors in Oregon, returning to play in a relief role against Wyoming on Sept. 21.

Barton said some coaches and trainers and a couple of teammates had an idea of what was going on, "but I don't think they knew the extent. The doctors told me I looked a lot better than I physically was."

UW coach Keith Gilbertson, who was the offensive coordinator while Barton was playing, said he knew "something wasn't right," but never knew the details until recently. "He did a marvelous job of disguising that," Gilbertson said. "He's a pretty tough kid."

Barton had trouble maintaining his weight, dropping from 210 pounds to about 190 during his senior season. Throughout his final year at UW, he thought about returning home to have surgery. In the end, he decided to stay at UW through the spring to finish his degree in sociology.

"I had come so far and done so much to get into Washington," Barton said, referring to his fight to get admitted to UW.

Barton played his first two years at Colorado under Neuheisel and was initially denied the right to enter UW as part of sanctions levied against Neuheisel for recruiting violations at UW. Washington eventually agreed to give up an extra scholarship for the right to admit Barton.

"I wanted to make sure I finished out everything at Washington. It would have killed me to quit football midway through my senior year. I knew it was a risk in terms of my long-term health, but at the same time, I wanted to make sure I finished what I started."

Barton wants to be a coach, and he had agreed to a graduate assistant's position at Michigan State for this fall. But continuing problems forced the surgery in August. By then, Barton was an anemic 175 pounds and his immune system was so battered by the use of prednisone that the surgery itself was life-threatening.

Barton made it through, but has struggled with complications since, spending more than 50 days in the hospital.

He was out of the hospital on Oct. 18, however, when the Huskies played at Oregon State; he greeted the team when it arrived in Corvallis and watched the game.

Barton said he doesn't think most at UW were fully aware of his situation until then. He said, "the first call I got was from coach Gilbertson. He felt bad he hadn't called earlier, but he didn't know. Nobody up there knew." Barton said he has played phone tag with Neuheisel, but hasn't talked to him.

If the ostomy surgery — which Barton hopes to have later this month — goes well, he could be resuming a normal life in a few months. "It'll still be a struggle," he said. "But it'll be better than it was before the surgery."

Oregon State coach Mike Riley — who tried to recruit Barton to OSU in 1998 — has promised him a graduate assistant's job at OSU once he is healthy.

"It would be really easy to say 'why me? I don't deserve this,' " Barton said. "I look at it like God knew I would be able to handle everything that's been put my way and be a stronger person for it.

"I'll get there. I didn't come this far to stop now."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com