Mission Moment: Healing Body, Mind, Spirit, and Heart

On June 3, 2020, Phyllicia Thomas, who had just finished her first year at Emory University School of Law, was on a mission to buy a Father’s Day gift, accompanied by her mother, Arlene, and younger sister, Julianna. When a speeding truck slammed into their compact car, Phyllicia bore the brunt of the impact. 

Julianna was treated for a concussion and cuts and released, and Arlene was hospitalized for a few weeks with a concussion as well as facial and pelvic fractures. But Phyllicia was airlifted to Atlanta Medical Center, where she remained in a minimally conscious state—on a ventilator—for 28 days. 

The greatest survival stories start in such moments. In July 2020, as COVID-19 was raging, Phyllicia transferred to Shepherd Center. The hospital was in lockdown mode, with strict protocols in place to protect their highly vulnerable population and staff. 

For two months, Phyllicia’s father, Chris Thomas, slept on a cot in her room. But in those 60 days, he got the best gift any father could hope for—his daughter began a remarkable recovery. When she first began to emerge, she motioned for her father’s cellphone. On it, she typed a message: “Are Mommy and Julianna OK? And when do law school classes start?” 

Almost every night, Phyllicia and Chris spent time by the koi pond in Shepherd’s Anna and Hays Mershon Secret Garden. On Saturdays, Arlene and Julianna would come to the other side of the garden gate to visit—COVID-style. “Shepherd Center was busy healing my body and my mind,” Phyllicia says, “and having my father and family there really healed my spirit and my heart.” 

Phyllicia was an inpatient at Shepherd until September 2, 2020, followed by nine months of daily outpatient therapy at Shepherd Pathways, where she relearned how to swallow, how to speak, how to walk, how to write. Gradually, her short-term memory started coming back, and she got stronger every day. “I don’t think I would have improved as much as I did if my dad hadn’t been with me,” Phyllicia says. “When I started emerging, he was there to remind me who I was before the car crash and also to remind me of the goals that I still wanted to reach.”

Only one year later—in the fall of 2021—Phyllicia was back at law school. Kristian Nitsch, Ph.D., psychology supervisor at Shepherd Pathways, was instrumental in facilitating her return to classes, arranging classroom and testing accommodations as needed.

Fast-forward two years, and Phyllicia walks across the stage to receive her environmental law degree. She keeps in touch via email with about 20 Shepherd doctors, nurses, therapists, and technicians, all of whom played crucial roles in her recovery and now celebrate every achievement with her.

Even though some of the staff members’ names are fuzzy, Phyllicia remembers every act of kindness, from the nurse who gave her teal socks and coloring books when she was feeling down, to another who surprised her by decorating her hospital room with pictures of her favorite things and spelling her name in her favorite color—purple—above her bed.

Throughout her recovery, from the darkest days to the brightest, everyone at Shepherd was focused and positive. “They never said anything was impossible,” Phyllicia says.

Written by Teresa Weaver

This story is an excerpt from “Mission Moments: 50 Years of Rebuilding Lives One Moment at a Time,” a book celebrating Shepherd’s 50th anniversary in 2025.