New Directions

A West Virginia native, Dakota Walls planned to work in a coal mine after graduating high school, as many family members did before him. But at the age of 21, he sustained a spinal cord injury (SCI) in a domestic violence incident. Dakota was taken by ambulance to nearby Bluefield Regional Medical Center and then transferred to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he spent two weeks before transferring to Shepherd Center. When he arrived at Shepherd, he was admitted to the ICU and was still using a ventilator to breathe. Within a week, he weaned from the ventilator, his blood pressure was stable, and he was able to leave the ICU.

While he was a patient in both the inpatient Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program and later the Spinal Cord Injury Day Program, Dakota’s family stayed nearby in family housing.

“That was a huge deal, especially because my family was coming from West Virginia,” Dakota recalls. “My mom was here for a long time when I was inpatient. When I was in the Day Program, my family members rotated – my wife, Kayla, would come for a week, then my sister, and then my mom. I’m happy to see the expansion of family housing; it’s a big benefit.”

Before his injury, Dakota spent a lot of time lifting weights at the gym. He says that being in such good shape allowed him to regain some function faster than he might have. And there were some other things he also took away from his rehabilitation at Shepherd.

One is an enduring friendship with another patient, Denise. Dakota and Denise were neighbors at Shepherd and often in the gym together. They would joke around during therapy, and after discharge, they kept in touch. When Dakota returned to Atlanta for the Day Program, Denise invited him to watch football with her family. From there, the two families grew closer. They have traveled together and often spend weekends at Denise’s family lake house.

Dakota also says that along with his mom, Shepherd staff encouraged him to go to college. And since he is the kind of person who likes to be busy, he decided to go for it. He enrolled in online courses, which he continued while in the Day Program at Shepherd.

The team in the Access Technology Lab helped him troubleshoot the best ways to complete his classwork, identifying apps and tools for his computer. “Some of the tools they recommended provide a lot of value,” Dakota says.

He got a degree in accounting and found a job at the Army and Airforce Exchange Service through a federal program called The Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP), which connects government and some private employers with college students, graduate students, and recent graduates with disabilities. Dakota, his wife, and their 11-year-old  daughter recently moved to McDonough because he wanted to have health care options closer by than the small town where he grew up offered.

Dakota is planning for the future—including pursuing a master’s degree—and reflects positively on the foundation his Shepherd experience helped lay for his future.

“At Shepherd, it feels like you're safe. I don't know how to explain it. Everybody treats you normally, everything's accessible, therapy is great, and there's a lot of enthusiasm and support,” Dakota explains.

Written by Ruth Underwood