Mission Moment: Oh, Baby! Celebrating Life’s Milestones Is Part of Recovery

The conference room off Shepherd Center’s fifth-floor therapy gym was awash in pink. Balloons, cookies, cardboard blossoms, and crepe-paper centerpieces were all pink. Each of a half-dozen co-conspirator therapists wore a bit of pink—some subtle, some not. 

Joshua Ponder seemed an unlikely guest of honor in such a rosy setting, but this was a surprise baby shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Ava Lee Ponder, Josh’s daughter. He had expected to be at home in Weaverville, North Carolina, to welcome Ava in person, but a dive into a shallow pool caused an injury that brought him to Shepherd. “We don’t want him to miss out just because he’s here,” says Gloria Sipakati, OT, OTR/L. 

That is the typical attitude of Shepherd staff members as they help mark the milestones in their patients’ lives. Therapy teams have thrown birthday parties, graduation ceremonies, engagement celebrations, and weddings — along with baby showers. 

“It shows we care about them as a person and about their whole family,” says Mackenzie Dolecheck, CRT. “We’re trying to give them some sense of normalcy.” 

The baby shower for Josh was the second for a patient in the same hospital room within a year. “We have experience in baby showers,” says Sarah Roberts, PT, DPT, NCS. Josh seemed genuinely moved when he rolled into a dark room and heard a chorus of “Surprise!” Someone asked Josh — who described himself as “speechless” at the affair — if he wanted a drink and, when he said yes, they handed him a baby bottle filled with pink lemonade. He especially seemed to enjoy the strawberry cupcakes. 

The guest list for his shower consisted of Cam Beckett and Kinley Ogbonnaya, the other two men who shared Josh’s therapy team. All the guests who were patients arrived using wheelchairs, and all had some challenges using their arms and hands. But that didn’t stop the lively competition in the diaper-the-doll contest as everyone raced to undress and re-clothe their “babies.” When Josh confessed that he had never changed a diaper, a shout went up, “Today’s the day!” Cam, using his teeth to pull the tape on the disposable diaper, appeared to have won until the therapists inspected the result and saw a bit too much of the baby’s backside. The threat of disqualification was greeted with hoots of laughter. 

In a diaper-toss challenge, guests tried to score points by throwing a green rubber ball into pockets of open diapers stuck to a board. Recreation therapist Mackenzie constructed the setup the night before. Although the participants struggled to control the trajectory of the ball, all seemed to have a good time. 

Josh’s father, Frank Ponder, watched the action from the doorway. “It’s highly unusual for a hospital to be this way,” he says. “Josh had an older sister born with spina bifida who died five years ago, and we spent a lot of time in hospitals. I’ve never witnessed a place like this.” 

The hospital may be full of patients, Frank says, but “when the therapists are with Josh, they make him feel like he’s the only patient here.”

Written by Gayle White

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. You can explore the full eBook or purchase a hardcover copy here.