In elementary school, she started going to a summer camp through Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The camp was designed for children with spina bifida, like Christina, and she fell in love with the thrill of adaptive sports. She began playing on youth teams through BlazeSports, and basketball quickly became her favorite. Eventually, she met teammates who told her about another playing opportunity — one made possible through Shepherd Center’s Alias Family Sports Teams. 

Shepherd Center’s sports teams, open to former Shepherd Center patients and to community members, provide opportunities to compete and travel while serving as a support system for athletes with disabilities. 

For Christina, Shepherd’s sports teams represented something else — a chance to grow and learn more about her potential, on and off the court. In high school, she started playing softball, swimming, and road bicycle racing, with the Shepherd Sluggers, Shepherd Sharks, and Shepherd Spinners, respectively. But she found her home on the basketball court with the Shepherd Stealers.

“Blaze Juniors was somewhat competitive, and being an athlete, going to that next level with Shepherd’s teams is what helped me get better at my sport,” Christina says. “It also got me out of my comfort zone, playing with people from different ages and backgrounds. I became less shy and made so many important friendships.

“Honestly, Shepherd made me who I am today. Not just playing but just life lessons. How to be fully independent. I traveled on the team without my family, so I learned how to navigate the road and be responsible for myself. That was invaluable for me.”

Christina had hoped playing with Shepherd Center would help her grow. What she hadn’t expected was that it would also chart a path forward for her, both academically and competitively. A path that would take her to the University of Illinois, home to one of the oldest and most illustrious adaptive basketball programs. 

“Going to college and playing college ball would not have happened without playing at Shepherd,” Christina says. “For one thing, I was seen by college coaches at our tournaments. And I definitely wouldn’t have been prepared for the level of competition in college if I hadn’t played with Shepherd Center.”

Fast forward more than a decade and Christina is back in the metro Atlanta area. Now 32, she’d gone a while without playing after graduating from Illinois — work and adulting will do that. But two years ago, she reconnected with Shepherd Center sports, sparking her love for the game once again. Today, she’s a veteran sparkplug on the Shepherd Stealers. She’s also mentoring her younger teammates and coaching junior teams in the local BlazeSports leagues.

“I absolutely love coaching,” Christina says. “Being able to give back with the younger generation brings such joy to me. Seeing their smiles and loving the sport as much as I do. That’s probably my favorite thing. ”

Just don’t assume that it’s only Coach Christina now. Christina the player is as competitive as ever. And she’s dreamed up a new dream to pursue: Get an invitation to try out for the Team USA Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team in advance of the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. 

“I’m kicking it into gear for that now with training, diet, workouts, all of it,” Christina says. “Why not give it a try, right? That’s what I’ve learned from this journey. Put yourself out there and try!"

Written by Phillip Jordan

By the time he was 21, Ryder had been racing dirt bikes competitively for 11 years. He skateboarded every day of his life and mountain biked nearly as much. If it sped, roared, or soared, he was on it.

“So,” Ryder shares, “to go from all that to a chair was pretty demoralizing.”

He’s talking about the spinal cord injury he sustained back in 2016, one that resulted in a T-12 complete fracture. And if you’re guessing how it happened based on Ryder’s passions, you’re going to be wrong. Proving that injuries can happen any number of ways, Ryder’s occurred when he fell from a tree. He simply grabbed a dead branch that gave way while he was putting up a rope swing for his younger sister at their family’s home in Athens, Georgia. Ryder’s rehabilitation took him to Shepherd Center for an anticipated nine-week inpatient stint; he went home in three. Ryder attributes his ability to adapt quickly to three things: his athleticism, his positivity and mental strength, and Shepherd Center’s staff.

“A big part of it was that everyone on the rehab team there — occupational therapists, physical therapists, psychologists — helped me get a grip on what I’d have ahead of me, right away. It was straightforward, no sugarcoating, and it really kickstarted my mind into the state I needed to be in. Sports would be possible to do again, and if I just went all in, they’d show me how.”

All in, indeed. Ryder’s injury happened in April 2016. By the following January, he was on a sit-ski in Alaska, hitting the same slopes that he’d run there on a trip the year before.

Ryder says two things stood out in his recovery at Shepherd Center. First, it was the recreation therapy that allowed him to quickly get active again and reconnect with sports right on Shepherd’s campus. Another big boost for Ryder was the peer support sessions. One of the SCI program alums he met was Jeremy Maddox, a bit of an adrenaline junkie himself. Jeremy sustained a spinal cord injury at 16, rehabbed at Shepherd Center, and found new ways to compete in sports — including as a national, and international, champion in adaptive waterskiing. The two bonded over their love of sports and remain friends to this day. Jeremy also connected Ryder to his first team sport opportunity — joining Shepherd Center’s competitive softball team, the Shepherd Sluggers.

“That’s been huge for me,” Ryder says. “I was always a solo sport guy for the rush of them, but joining the softball team is all about camaraderie. We get to travel, play other teams, and hang out with each other before and after the games. It’s a new avenue for competitiveness and friendship.”

Ryder followed Jeremy’s lead in other ways, too. Within a month of completing his inpatient rehabilitation, Ryder was back as a volunteer in the peer support program. Ryder still volunteers at Shepherd’s adaptive sports expos, often demonstrating how he uses his sit-ski.

Shepherd Center hosts a wide range of health and wellness clinics through the hospital’s donor-funded Recreation Therapy Program, giving people the opportunity to try everything from adaptive skiing to adaptive hiking, target shooting, wildlife viewing, horticulture, jewelry making, and cycling, to name a few. The clinics are open to former patients and community members alike, taking place in both the metro Atlanta area and around the country. Led by Shepherd Center recreation therapists and subject experts like Ryder, the clinics offer people a chance to try something new while knowing they’re in good hands.

The teaching talent comes naturally to Ryder, as he taught production and robotics for several years at Athens Academy. This year, he’s transitioning to a new opportunity as a full-time film editor. He’s also passing on his love of sport to the next generation. Ryder and his wife Carly have a daughter, Ramsey, who he often takes hunting, fishing, and camping.

“Before my injury, I was always so fast-paced, just go, go, go,” Ryder says. “I still love the thrills, but I can appreciate the slower moments now, too. It’s all fulfilling now."

Written by Phillip Jordan

Whether it’s learning how to do a long-enjoyed activity in a different way or finding a new interest, involvement in positive and meaningful recreation promotes physical and mental health and helps reduce medical complications and the need for further medical intervention or hospitalization.

Beginning while patients are inpatients and continuing through potential involvement in the Alias Family Sports Teams and attendance at Shepherd’s health and wellness clinics post-discharge, the hospital’s recreation therapists ask patients what they love to do, what puts smiles on their faces, what goals they have, and what makes them feel alive. Then, with the right tools, they help them prepare for those adventures.

Trying Out New Wheels

On a recent winter morning, patients had the opportunity to test their adaptive cycling skills when Shepherd Center’s Recreation Therapy Program partnered with Catalyst Sports to host a clinic showcasing adaptive cycling gear in our Livingston Gym. There were plenty of adaptive bikes, including handcycles, to choose from based on patients’ interests and abilities, provided by Charles Stanley, of Catalyst Sports and Shepherd Center. 

As part of Shepherd’s goal to create opportunities for patients to rediscover their passions and purpose, adaptive cycling clinics are typically held each month. They are often integrated into patients’ schedules based on their goals and interests. And that’s not all – when the weather is warmer, Shepherd partners with Catalyst to take patients on monthly group rides on paved trails just outside Atlanta.

“These clinics and outings are a great opportunity for essentially every patient we serve. There are many different configurations, adaptations, and styles for bikes that make cycling suitable for almost any type of injury or disability,” says Brandon Clift, BS, ACSM EP-C, ACSM CIFT, CASC, sports specialist in Shepherd Center’s Recreation Therapy Program. “Cycling allows people to get outdoors, improve their cardiovascular fitness and overall function, and socialize with friends and family.”

Playing in the Dirt

When the weather outside is frightful (or at least cold!), horticulture therapist Wendy Battaglia has plenty of ideas for how to experience horticulture indoors. She puts those ideas to good use, coming up with horticulture lessons and activities for patients like Roger Alexander.

This is Alexander’s fourth horticulture therapy session since he arrived at Shepherd after sustaining a spinal cord injury. Battaglia offered a few options for activities, and Alexander chose to plant a paperwhite bulb, or as Battaglia explains, he’s “forcing” the bulb, because rather than planting it in dirt, he placed it in a vase with pebbles and water. As he opened and closed lids to jars of colorful stones, Alexander shared his excitement about the progress he has made since his first horticulture therapy session with Battaglia a month ago.

“The first time, I couldn't even open the jars. The second time, I could open them, but it was still hard,” he explains.

He continued the task, nestling the bulb into the pebbles, writing on a label, and tying a bow — all actions that required fine motor skills.

“I was nervous the first day I came, and all I was doing was planting sunflower seeds. I could barely move my hands,” Alexander says.

On this day, he was able to clearly label his paperwhite.

“I find for so many patients this is the first time they’re trying handwriting, and they’re always surprised at how well they do,” Battaglia says.

By the end of the session, Alexander has his paperwhite planted and has instructions for its care — over the coming weeks, he’ll be able to see the roots and the shoot as they grow.

“All is well in horticulture,” Alexander says. “I love it.”

Taking a Swing 

For Shepherd Center patients, just looking out the window might spark a therapy goal. In some patient rooms and clinics, that means looking over the nearby Bobby Jones Golf Course. When the weather is good, Shepherd Center recreation therapists take groups to the golf course to try out adaptive golf. And even in the winter months, volunteers from the Georgia State Golf Association (GSGA) Adaptive Golf Program visit the hospital to introduce patients to adaptive golf equipment and share pointers to help them improve their game, regardless of their injury or illness. They, along with Shepherd Center’s recreation therapists, also help patients look for adaptive resources closer to home. 

Sam Taylor, who sustained a spinal cord injury when he was shot while on duty as an Evansville, Indiana, police officer, is attending one of the golf clinics in the Livingston Gym on his last day as a Day Program patient. He practices his swing while using a ParaGolfer, an adaptive golf wheelchair that allows him to swing from a standing position. Taylor enjoyed golf before his injury and is eager to get back on the course — he saw the golf clinic as a great opportunity to give it a try.

“Being in a controlled environment where I can get instructions based upon my injury ... I figured the best chance I had to start golfing again would be to learn from people who know the adaptive portion.”

In addition to trying the ParaGolfer, Taylor got some pointers on improving his swing while using his own wheelchair. 

Other patients join in on the clinic too, like Josh Smith. To see Smith’s swing, you wouldn’t know this is only his second time playing golf, the first being during the previous month’s clinic in the gym. Smith is also wrapping up his time in the SCI Day Program. A putt-putt outing piqued his interest in golf, so he tried the golf clinic.

“Getting in the ParaGolfer and working with [the instructors], I was like, 'Oh, this is sweet, I definitely want to come back,’ Smith says. "My grandpa's a big golfer, too, so maybe this will be something we can have fun with, and it turns out I'm not bad at it. They're great teachers, and it's a lot of fun.”

Throwing a Pot

The walls of the art room at Shepherd Center are decked with brightly painted guitars, paintings on canvas, and colorful collages. Counters are covered with projects in progress, and shelves are filled with ceramic mugs and figurines waiting to be glazed.

Twenty-year-old Maddie Snyder rolls her wheelchair up to an adaptive pottery wheel situated in a nook at the edge of the room, the pottery studio. She pushes back her sleeves and puts on a plastic apron. Claire Tadeo, an art specialist at Shepherd Center, adjusts the table height to a comfortable level for Snyder, and her lesson on throwing a pot on the wheel is ready to begin.

After a brief pause so Snyder can text her dad a lunch takeout order, Tadeo shows her how to adjust the wheel’s speed and hands her a ball of clay, instructing her to throw it with some force at the center of the wheel. Snyder takes aim and gets the clay in a good spot on the first try.

A sophomore at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Snyder came to Shepherd Center in mid-December after she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Soon, she’ll wrap up her inpatient rehabilitation and continue in the Day Program.

This is Snyder’s first time in the art room at Shepherd. “I felt like it would be fun and satisfying to do my own pottery,” she says.

Tadeo talks Snyder through how to center the clay on the wheel, sometimes guiding her hands to show how much pressure to apply, while telling her about the adaptive tools that are available if she needs them.

“In addition to the pottery wheel often being a new experience, it also helps work on upper body strength and upper extremity range of motion,” Tadeo explains. “To center the clay, you are utilizing your upper body to push and pull it toward the middle of the wheel. There is also a large focus on fine motor skills when creating an opening in the clay and building up the walls of your piece.”

With Tadeo’s guidance, Snyder centers the clay, presses a hole in the center, and pulls it upward, to create a cup, which she says she’ll use for pencils. She contemplates the height and decides to pull a little more clay from the bottom, to make the cup taller.

As she cleans the clay off her hands and arms, Snyder adds another reason she chose to try pottery.

“My hands were kind of shaky, and I knew I couldn’t paint pretty like I used to, so I thought, ‘Oh, that might make me sad, so I’ll try pottery, and if it doesn’t work out, oh well,’ but it was really fun.”

Snyder is working on standing and walking with some of her other therapists. She’s gotten good at transferring from her wheelchair, so next time, she might try the traditional wheel, which, Tadeo explains, requires more balance and core strength.

For now, Tadeo sets the cup on a shelf to dry. When Snyder returns for her next art therapy sessions, she’ll trim the cup, add her initials, and glaze it. Once it’s fired in the kiln, the cup will be ready for pencils — and to go home with her.

Hunting Wild Hogs

On a recent, warmer-than-usual January evening, Adam Cope sat quietly in a hunting blind with Gavin McClintock, Shepherd Center’s outdoor recreation specialist, and Brandon Clift, BS, ACSM EP-C, ACSM CIFT, CASC, sports specialist. This Shepherd Center Health and Wellness Clinic took place on a 225-acre farm in Reynolds, Georgia, owned by a former Shepherd patient, who also provided lodging for the night.

As night fell, the men had their eyes trained on the field in front of them, awaiting the arrival of wild hogs.

Cope, who has always enjoyed outdoor activities and has grown up hunting, first heard about trips like this one when he came to Shepherd Center for rehabilitation after sustaining a spinal cord injury (SCI). McClintock told him to keep an eye on the Health and Wellness Clinic calendar after his discharge and to join a trip if he could.

Cope says he was fortunate — now five years post-injury, he can walk independently and doesn’t have many lingering effects of his SCI beyond general weakness in his legs. He sees recreation therapy as an essential part of rehabilitation.

“I would say it's vital. I know that while I was still unsure of what my future was going to look like, one of the things I was the most anxious about was what was my recreation going to be?” he explains. “I've personally never been satisfied with just doing things at the house or, you know, arts and crafts and that sort of thing. I enjoy that stuff, but it’s never been fulfilling like getting outside.”

On this night, the group spent several hours in the ground blind. Finally, 10 to 15 hogs wandered into the area, but not for long. “I learned that hogs are actually very easy to spook,” Cope explains.

Cope has also participated in Shepherd’s fly-fishing clinics — his favorite.

“I've enjoyed the events I've come to. The fly-fishing event was the first time I've ever done that, too. So, the program has exposed me to things that I otherwise may not have done, and it adds that layer of comfort, being able to do it partnered up with Shepherd Center.”

Joining a Jam Session

It’s a Monday morning at 9 a.m., but the recreation room at the SHARE Military Initiative is already rocking as guitar riffs and drumbeats fill the air.  

SHARE clients Collin Tubbs, Corey Hickman, and Joe Merritt, along with volunteer Bruce Warren, have gathered for music therapy. Board-certified music therapist Thomas Miller checks in with everyone as they arrive. This session is Tubbs’ first, and Miller asks him what instrument he’d like to play. Tubbs suggests he might just sit and listen today, but Miller isn’t having it, encouraging him to play — Tubbs chooses a bass guitar.

As they settle in, Miller reminds another participant, “Elephants and donkeys grow big ears,” to help him remember the order of the strings on his acoustic guitar: E-A-D-G-B-E.

Miller remarks upon how comfortably Tubbs holds the bass guitar.

“Well, I used to play bass,” he admits. The group laughs since he had almost opted to observe.

They try out a Bill Withers song some members of the group worked on the previous week. Hickman, who has been at SHARE for a couple of months, says this is only his second music session. He appears to have learned a lot and says that’s because Miller is a good teacher.

“I enjoy music, and I enjoy working in a team setting — it’s more relaxing than playing on your own,” Hickman says. “And I wanted to expand my horizons a little.”

Beside him, Merritt drums on a djembe — his own. His dog, Trigger, sits beside his chair.

“Over the last two years, as my symptoms got worse, I turned to music and drumming,” Merritt shares later. “I try and play every day, when the rhythm hits. I’ve only been drumming a few months, and always on my own. I was so excited about music group!”

Warren, who is new to volunteering at Shepherd but seasoned on the acoustic guitar, accompanies them.

The group jokes with one another as they play through one song, then another, with Miller giving tips on hand position and posture, clapping out rhythms, and, once the group has the hang of it, even singing along to one of the tunes.

As they work their way through a new song, clearly enjoying the combination of focus and fun, Tubbs tells him, “I haven’t played in forever, and it’s my brain trying to keep up with all this stuff.”

“I’m glad I didn’t let you just sit and listen,” Miller replies.

Building Community 

Birdwatching, horticulture, jewelry making, book club, yoga — Pam Gavin has attended dozens of Shepherd Center’s Health and Wellness Clinics.

“I’m very outgoing, I like people, I like to try new things, and I really love Katie [Harmon, CTRS, health and wellness program lead],” she explains. “And I love life!”

That love for people and zest for life are evident in how she spends her time. Now 70 years old, Gavin, who was born with cerebral palsy, has lived independently for most of her adult life. After graduating from college and earning a master’s degree in social work, she began volunteering three days a week at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, where she lived until recently. She served thousands of hours at the hospital and won a “Health Care Heroes” award for her service.

So, when family and life circumstances made moving to Georgia to be closer to her sister, Lynn, seem like a wise choice, Gavin had to leave her volunteer role and the support system she had built. When she got to Atlanta, she saw Shepherd’s Health and Wellness Clinics as an opportunity to try new things, meet new people, and create a new community.

And she’s doing just that. She’s been to Chastain Park for a horsemanship clinic where she rode the aptly named “Elvis,” a mechanical horse who “rocks and rolls,” helping her work on her balance. She’s attended craft-making workshops, a weekend at Camp Twin Lakes for outdoor and adventure-based activities, and, one of her favorites, joined trips to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. She especially enjoys the horticulture clinics and says many of the same people attend each session.

"Everyone who gets to know Pam loves her — clinic participants and staff alike,” says Harmon, who organizes Shepherd’s health and wellness clinics. 

Recently, Gavin and her sister went on a bucket-list ski trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, organized by Shepherd in partnership with Steamboat Adaptive Recreational Sports (STARS) and sponsored by the Jack Trottier Foundation, which helps offset the trip’s cost for participants.

“[The group] stayed together in a nice big lodge, and they’ve got big rooms with nice bathrooms, and everything is accessible,” Gavin says.

"I had never been skiing in my life because I didn’t think it was possible — and what I’m learning about Shepherd is that they make everything become possible — I don’t know how they do it, but they make everything become possible."

Written by Ruth Underwood 

“I’m in the pace car, and when I go by Shepherd and see everybody there, I always get teary-eyed. The support is amazing,” says Washburn, who serves as coordinator for the wheelchair division of the race. 

The Peachtree Road Race, a 10K winding down one of Atlanta’s main thoroughfares, attracts 60,000 participants and boasts a rich history and impact on the sport. Since 1984, Shepherd Center has sponsored the race's Wheelchair Division, partnering with the Atlanta Track Club to promote excellence, equity, and inclusion in racing. 

The Starting Line 

Shepherd Center has a long-standing history of empowering people with disabilities through recreation therapy. Shepherd’s Recreation Therapy Program began when David Apple, M.D., the hospital’s first medical director, felt the program was so necessary that he paid the salary for Shepherd’s first recreation therapist, Barb Trader, out of his own pocket. 

“When I started my career at Shepherd in 1978, the disability movement had really started to gain steam,” says Barb Trader, a lifelong disability rights advocate who worked at Shepherd Center as director of recreation therapy for 15 years. “You had to be willing to invent and create a vision for how things could be, whether that was in recreation therapy or in disability rights.” 

And invent she did. Trader, now retired after a 40+-year career, championed the development of a robust adaptive sports program at the hospital, which has grown to become the Alias Family Sports Teams Program — 10 teams ranging from track to rugby. 

She also served as the first coordinator of the AJC Peachtree Road Race Wheelchair Division and helped shape Shepherd’s involvement in the race. The wheelchair division grew quickly. In the first year, the race had four participants. By Trader’s eighth year organizing the race, it had 120 athletes from around the world. And the number of participants wasn’t the only thing setting the Peachtree apart, she says. 

“When Shepherd Center began sponsoring the wheelchair division in 1984, it changed everything,” Trader says. “With its connections, Shepherd could help locate sponsors and add prize money for the winners. The Peachtree set the stage for professionalizing wheelchair road racing with the way it seriously considered prize money.” 

Trader left Shepherd in 1993 to work on the Atlanta Paralympic Organizing Committee for the 1996 Paralympic Games, an event she says she’s not sure would have taken place in Atlanta without the impact of Shepherd’s involvement in the Peachtree Road Race. 

Continuing a Legacy of Inclusion and Hope 

Washburn says the race’s legacy and the possibilities it shows to Shepherd patients make it unique. 

“The history and tradition make this race so special. It’s a chance for Shepherd to show our patients what is possible as they cheer on the athletes. It's like an aha moment,” she says. 

Susannah Scaroni knows how impactful representation in sports is. The American Paralympic athlete and four-time AJC Peachtree Road Race Wheelchair Division winner began attending the Peachtree when she was 10. 

“It hugely influenced me growing up,” she reflects. “The older athletes showed us what a future could be as a professional athlete and an adult with a disability. They were high-functioning, fun, and independent.” 

Now, Scaroni carries on that sportsmanship by supporting the next generation of athletes. 

“My favorite tradition of the Peachtree is going to brunch at Shepherd after the race and mingling with patients. That’s the beauty of the sport — showing others what’s possible,” she says.

Through the years, other races across the country have followed the Peachtree’s lead by including wheelchair divisions and thinking about equity in the prize purses for all athletes. 

“Treating our wheelchair athletes as equal partners to the footrace has raised awareness and shown that whether you have a disability or not, there should be inclusion,” Washburn says. “We continue to try to grow the sport of racing and people attending. Peachtree is near and dear to my heart. It level sets what races should look like.”

Written by Damjana Alverson

Since that inspirational lunch, the entire Alias family has supported Shepherd not only financially, but also by serving on boards, advisory panels, and steering committees, as well as volunteering their time for fundraising events. In 2006, Fred established the “Best Employee Attitude Award,” with substantial cash prizes given to the most outstanding Shepherd staff members each year. In 2015, Fred and his two sons, Shaler and Andrew, made substantial contributions toward the renovation of the hospital’s chapel.

The family’s dedication is most obvious, though, in the Alias Family Sports Teams program, which enables people with physical disabilities in metro Atlanta to compete locally, regionally, nationally, and even internationally. More than 20 athletes from Shepherd teams have represented the U.S. in the Paralympic Games, and several have won medals. Currently, more than 100 athletes—ranging in age from 15 to 71—play on Shepherd’s 10 teams: the Stealers (basketball), the Strikers (power soccer), the Spinners (track), the Smash (quad rugby), the Sharks (swimming), the Sluggers (softball), the Skiers (waterskiing), the Swords (fencing), the Cyclers (hand-cycling), and the Servers (tennis). 

Matt Edens, CTRS, has been coordinator of the sports teams since 2005. “Because of the Alias family, we’re able to buy new equipment and travel more than we’ve ever done,” Matt says. “We’re able to provide these athletes with competitiveness, health, and wellness. But it’s not just about the sports. Our patients can come down to the gym every night to watch teams practice. They get to see there is life after injury. Several of our athletes were injured decades ago, and they’re able to say, ‘I’ve been in your shoes.’ A lot of times, that is an ‘aha’ moment for patients who have just begun recovery.” 

Expanding the scope and quality of the sports team program has become part of the Alias family legacy. After 30 years, Fred still gets emotional when he talks about Shepherd Center. “I have never walked in that building and left when I wasn’t more up than when I went in,” he says. “It’s just the greatest thing I’ve ever been involved in.” Now, his oldest son, Shaler, serves on Shepherd’s Board of Directors, and Andrew is chairman of the Board of Trustees. 

“Growing up, I watched from afar as my dad served alongside the Shepherd family and other amazing board members to grow this place from an idea to a world-class facility,” Shaler says. “Then, after college, I had two close friends who were patients at Shepherd after complete spinal cord injuries. I watched as their lives were turned upside down by traumatic injuries, and then I witnessed firsthand as Shepherd slowly put the pieces back together and taught them that they could not only live a normal life, but an exceptional one.” 

As Shaler and Andrew established their own careers—creating a financial payment-processing firm called Repay in 2006—they began deepening their long-term involvement in Shepherd’s mission. “We are a giving family,” Andrew says. “We grew up being taught to give. But the people at Shepherd fostered my relationship with them by playing the long game.” As avid outdoorsmen, both Alias brothers connected personally with the direct impact their support could have on athletes. “I loved James Shepherd’s saying that Shepherd Center is the bridge between ‘I can’t’ and ‘I can,’” Shaler says. “One of the most powerful ways that I have seen patients come to fully embrace the ‘I can’ attitude is through the sports teams.“

Overcoming adversity takes a tremendous effort from the patients,” Shaler adds. “Supporting those patients takes a tremendous effort from the physicians, nurses, therapists, researchers, and staff at Shepherd Center. And supporting those staff members takes a tremendous effort from the community. Our family is committed to being a part of our community and supporting Shepherd Center for as long as it takes.”

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. 

It was also their first time playing the sport on any stage — the two former Shepherd Center patients started playing handball this summer after USA Team Handball announced the launch of the country’s first Wheelchair National Team.

Over the course of a few months, the Wheelchair National Team has gone from a blank slate to boasting a full roster of elite athletes and coaching staff, not to mention winning a silver medal at the world championship. Shepherd Center staff and former patients played a key role in the team’s journey to its first international competition, and their sights are set on 2032 and beyond.
 

A whirlwind summer

Lisa Eagen, BS, ACSM-CPT, lead exercise physiologist in the ProMotion Fitness Center at Shepherd Center, has always loved the Olympics. In eighth grade, she even wrote an essay about becoming an Olympic track and field athlete, breaking records set by the track and field legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

While Eagen never made it onto the Olympic track, she did represent the United States in another Olympic sport: handball. Her softball coach at Iowa State recommended she try the sport, and the rest is history. Eagen played with Team USA in the 1995 Pan American Games, where they took home the gold medal. She also played in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. After her Olympic appearance, she played professionally in Norway and Germany. She retired from the sport in 2003.

“After I retired, I took myself away from handball for a while — I was married to it for so long,” she says.

That changed, however, when she heard about the formation of the new wheelchair team. USA Team Handball launched the Wheelchair National Team in June, after the United States was unanimously awarded the wild card slot for the 3rd IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship, which was held in Cairo from Sept. 16 to 21.

One of the assistant coaches for the wheelchair team, Reita Clanton, was one of Eagen’s coaches in the ’96 Olympics. Clanton invited Eagen to watch tryouts, which led to an offer to join the coaching staff. The whole process helped Eagen fall in love with the sport all over again.

“It got my heart back into handball, and it was just neat teaching the athletes,” Eagen says. “These athletes are spectacular. Most of the athletes are either current or former college wheelchair basketball athletes. Some play multiple sports, like wheelchair football or lacrosse.”

Johnson and Wolf both had stellar athletic careers even before joining the handball team. Wolf was an All-American wheelchair basketball player at Edinboro University before playing professionally in Germany. Johnson was a wheelchair basketball star at Auburn and participated in the Challenged Athletes Foundation’s Million Dollar Challenge, handcycling part of a 620-mile route in California. Most recently, the two played for the Charlotte Rollin’ Hornets wheelchair basketball team in Charlotte, North Carolina.

When they heard about the new handball team, they were up for the challenge of trying something new.

“I heard about the opportunity with handball, and all I had going into it was watching a few YouTube videos,” Johnson says. “Just like any other millennial, I looked it up on YouTube and thought, ‘I think I can do what they’re doing.’”

The training schedule moved quickly, with the team meeting over Labor Day weekend for their last group training session before their competition in Egypt. The team members came from various backgrounds, with the players’ ages ranging from 17 to 45.

Despite the summer being a whirlwind for the new handball players, Wolf says the coaching staff helped the team prepare for the tournament.

“I give props to the coaching staff and to everybody in the background that is handling all the sponsorships,” Wolf says. “The fact that they figured this out so quickly is pretty amazing.”

A tough competition

After their flight to Egypt and a couple of “friendlies” — scrimmage games against the championship host, Egypt — the competition started for the rookie USA team. After a rough first match against the reigning world champs, Brazil, the team wasn’t a favorite heading into their match against Japan. But they won, and they kept winning, beating out Brazil in the semi-finals to go to the gold medal game.

“It was just amazing,” Eagen says. “We had broken Brazil’s 11-game winning streak. At that moment, it was like, ‘OK, we’re going to be in the gold medal match. We’ve already made history.’”

The team was the first USA handball team of any discipline (men’s, women’s, indoor, beach, etc.) to medal at a world championship. But ultimately, Team USA fell to Egypt. The team, which had their eyes set on gold since their formation this summer, had to settle for silver, still a remarkable accomplishment for the fledgling team.

Despite the history-making outcome in Cairo, many of the athletes were initially disappointed. But by the time they got on the plane to come home, many of their spirits had been lifted, Eagen says. If anything, the silver medal only adds to the motivation for future competitions. 

Sights set on Brisbane

The team trained for the world championship all summer, but the tournament in Cairo was anything but the finish line. Eagen says the coaching staff is already planning ways to continue developing the team through the 2032 Paralympics in Brisbane, Australia, when the wheelchair handball community expects the sport to be added to the Paralympic Games.

In the meantime, however, the coaches are planning for the more immediate future. This year, Eagen is working on identifying more athletes to join the team, including more Shepherd Center alumni. The team is also preparing to go up against Brazil again in this year’s continental championships. They’re trying to bring the 2026 IHF World Championships to Los Angeles, where handball may be an exhibition sport for the 2028 Paralympics. And they’re trying to recruit more sponsors to pay for training and travel costs.

Costs add up quickly for the team, and the priority is making sure the athletes don’t have to pay for anything, Eagen says. She thanked Delta Air Lines for giving the team discounted airfare to Egypt, and for their help with everything from helping athletes unload gear at the curb to setting aside a conference room for the team to wait in before their flight. Other organizations have also stepped up to sponsor the team.

“Shepherd has always been supportive of adaptive sports, and they are helping us through this journey,” Eagen says. For more information on supporting the team, you can visit their website.

As for Wolf and Johnson, they’re eager to continue developing their own handball skills and building the team from the ground up, looking to be part of the next history-making moment for USA Team Handball.

“We have to establish that foundation — building our team and going out there and competing and seeing where we land over the next four years,” Johnson says. “I’m excited for that.”

Written By Erin Kenney

Ready to get moving? Shepherd’s partnership with burnalong®, an online platform offering on-demand health and wellness tools, including classes ranging from cardio workouts and yoga to stress management and financial wellness, brings the classes to you, no matter where you live. 

Shepherd’s highly trained specialists create live and on-demand content geared toward people with spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, spine and chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, and other neurological conditions. Shepherd patients, staff, and Burnalong users can access the classes, so you can take some motivation home with you.

“When our patients are at Shepherd, there’s always a rehabilitation professional there to guide them or give them information. We hope this platform can help them feel empowered to continue when they leave our walls,” says Marina Moldavskiy, ACRP-CP, Shepherd Center’s tele-wellness program manager and exercise physiologist.

For residents of metro Atlanta, ProMotion Fitness Center is a fully accessible gym offering fitness consultations, exercise classes, a weight room, a gym, and an indoor pool. Plus, it’s a good excuse to stop by Shepherd Center’s cafeteria for camaraderie and a healthy lunch.

Looking for something on the competitive side? The Fred, Shaler, and Andrew Alias Sports Teams program at Shepherd Center sponsors 10 teams for people with physical disabilities, including swimming, softball, fencing, and rugby teams. It’s a great avenue for people in and around Atlanta who love playing competitive sports.

“If you live outside the Atlanta area and aspire to do more competitive sports, contact your closest adaptive sports programs. Adaptive sports provide not only competition but also camaraderie and exercise opportunities. If you do join a team in another city, we’ll look forward to seeing you — and even competing against you — at tournaments,” says Matt Edens, CTRS, sports teams coordinator at Shepherd Center.

Not ready for the commitment and competition of joining a team but still want to try something new? You can check out the many Health and Wellness Clinics Shepherd offers the community. Virtual offerings include e-birding, art, and fitness clinics. In-person clinics range from pickleball and photography in Atlanta to surfing in Charleston, South Carolina, and skiing in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Paris Carter, an Atlanta native who participated in outpatient spinal cord injury rehabilitation at Shepherd in 2023, has tried out several of Shepherd’s clinics, including tennis, snow skiing, Adventure Skills Workshop (ASW), and Camp Twin Lakes weekend clinic. Those experiences and the connections she’s made have led her to try other adaptive sports in the community, including basketball and sled hockey.  

“I'm so grateful that I got the chance to try all this stuff because I feel like I'm far more active now than I ever was before my injury,” she explains. “It's important to still have fun and live the best life you can and still be active. And so picking up different sports and things like that has been really fun.”

Bonus: A key element of all these programs, whether online or in person, is the connections and community you’ll find.

“I've made a lot of friends along the way. One of my closest friends, I met her at one of the clinics, and then we were in the same cabin at ASW,” Paris says. “I'm really grateful for making these friends and just being a part of the Shepherd family.”

Written by Ruth Underwood

 

“That's when I fell in love with swimming again,” recalls Eden, “And it’s become a huge part of my life.”

For a while, swimming didn’t seem to be in the cards anymore for Eden. In November 2020, Eden sustained a C5 - C6 level spinal cord injury (SCI) when she and her friends were boating off the coast of Naples, Florida. Eden dove off the boat and hit a sandbar. She spent about two weeks in the ICU at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers, Florida, before transferring to Shepherd Center.

“I was excited to be at Shepherd,” she says. “It sounds strange, but you’re going from the ICU, lying down and not doing anything — to a place where people are happy to see you, and they make the environment fun. They have great attitudes and have seen this happen before, so you’re not the only one going through it. I think one of the biggest things about inpatient is that you feel so seen, and people understand the challenges that you're going through, but they also see you as a person, so they don't just see you for your disability.”

Eden spent three months in the Adolescent Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program, followed by three months in the Day Program. After some time at home, she returned to the Day Program, where she says her therapist, Heather Jones, DPT, helped her get her life together beyond Shepherd’s walls.

Eden has always been athletic, enjoying sports and the outdoors, so she tried adaptive sports, including hand cycling and sit skiing.

But swimming tops her list.

“I’ve fallen in love with swimming. It’s the closest I've been able to get to able-bodied exercise because I'm getting my heart rate up, and my body weight doesn’t hold me down. I'm going to continue to swim for as long as I can.”

And that passion has led to experiences Eden never imagined that day in the Shepherd Center pool. In March 2023, she started swimming with the Shepherd Sharks, part of the Fred, Shaler, and Andrew Alias Sports Teams program. In December, she competed in the 2023 U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships in Orlando, Florida, where she set American records in both the 50- and 100-meter backstroke.

“It was an amazing experience — really exciting and kind of overwhelming — because I had never been to something that big before,” she explains. “But even in that environment, it's very similar to Shepherd, and everyone has a disability, so no one sees you as any different.”

Beyond swim practices and weight training, Eden is in her junior year at Georgia State University. She’s majoring in psychology and hopes to continue her studies to earn a doctorate in rehabilitation psychology.

She says conversations with adolescent program rehabilitation counselor Cheryl Linden, MA, LPC; MS OT/L, planted the seeds for her interest in the field.

“I worked most of my adolescence, and I asked Cheryl, ‘What can I do now? How can I go back to work? My hands don't work. My body doesn't work.’ She asked if I had thought about counseling. And I realized that when I met people going through the same injury as me, I was helping them process. I would love a career where I could help people who have experienced this or other traumatic injuries.”

Eden is already giving back to others as a peer mentor in Shepherd's Keeping Adolescents and Young Adults Connected (KAYAC) program.

“That has been a great avenue for me to meet people in person. I've made amazing connections. Families tell me it's so good to see a young person transitioning through injury, returning to school, participating in sports, and continuing life. One person was a swimmer who wanted to get back into the sport, and I helped get him back into the pool,” she recalls. “I love that so much!”

Eden reaches many people — even those she doesn’t meet face to face — through social media, including her TikTok account h0twheels2.0, where she has close to 300,000 followers.

“I started my TikTok account to show that people with spinal cord injuries still live very normal lives. By posting what I am doing, I'm spreading awareness, so people know we still get out there. It's nice to hear from someone who doesn't have a disability, but when people who have disabilities say that they see what I'm doing and they want to try things as well, that's what's important to me,” she explains.

For now, Eden is focusing on school and swimming. In April, she competed in an international swim meet in Indiana, the Citi Para Swimming World Series USA. There, she swam her best times yet in all four of her events and got internationally classified, which means she will be able to compete in more big events. She swam with the Shepherd Sharks at the Bill Keating Jr. Memorial Cincinnati Para-Swimming Open in May and has her sights set on competing with Team USA for meets in the future.

As she trains, she’s grateful for the embrace of her Shepherd community, the support of Alias family, whose generosity has elevated Shepherd’s sports programs, and for the connections she has made.

“Shepherd has been a great vessel for me to build a support system. I've made friends who have turned into my family. At Shepherd, I don’t have the excuse of, ‘Oh, I can't do this because of my disability,’ because everyone there knows how to help me figure things out. It went from a hospital setting that should have been very traumatic and turned into a place of support, love, and family.”

Written by Ruth Underwood 

Brandon grew up in Johns Creek, Georgia, just outside Atlanta. As a child, he dreamed of being a professional motocross rider. He traveled for motocross competitions and even switched to home-schooling to allow more flexibility and time to focus on the sport. But when he was 14, he sustained a T-7-T-8 spinal cord injury in a crash at a motocross event in Tennessee, which resulted in paralysis from his chest down.

After spending time in a hospital in Memphis, Brandon transferred to Shepherd Center for rehabilitation, but as soon as he arrived, he wanted to leave.

“I couldn't wait to get out of there at first. I had been hurt racing motocross plenty of times, which helped me wrap my head around the injury,” he recalls. “But my time at Shepherd was great. My therapists were amazing, and as soon as I got home, I missed Shepherd Center. Everything was so easy and accessible there.”  

As Brandon returned to life as an active teenager, including re-connecting with his motocross community, he realized that finding accessible parking spaces, bathrooms, restaurants, and venues could be challenging.

“I felt like a burden to the people I was traveling with. We’d go someplace, and I either couldn't get in, or I couldn't access the bathroom, and I’d have to go home, or we'd have to try someplace new. I felt like it was my fault,” he says. “For somebody who's adventurous and likes to do new things, I got tired of going places and not knowing if I'd be able to access those new things. So that was the catalyst for my idea,” he explains.

The idea that Brandon is referring to is his brainchild and now business — where he focuses much of his attention and energy — a mobile app called iAccess Life. The app uses crowdsourcing to collect information about accessibility at restaurants, stores, and other venues in cities across the United States and worldwide. Users can rate a venue’s parking, entrance, interior, and bathroom accessibility and have the option to leave a review as well.

“I wanted you to open the app and feel like everybody else looking for a place to have dinner, drinks, coffee, or go shopping. Whatever you wanted to do, I wanted to find a way for people to leave feedback on their experience and then hopefully travel confidently as we gather more ratings and feedback from people in the application,” he says.

“I hope the app will help people like the patients I met while I was at Shepherd. They are adjusting to life after injury. After I was injured, I knew I wanted to move on and just keep living, but that can be hard for some people to imagine. So, I wanted to build an app to encourage people who want to go somewhere new or try something new and offer that security and that belief that they can do it — and that there’s an easier way,” Brandon explains.

Of course, it wasn’t a straight line from idea to app. Along the way, Brandon got into competitive go-kart racing, which included traveling and filming for a TV show featuring his experience, “Dreams to Champions,” that aired on Fox Sports 1. He also worked in information technology (IT), including quality assurance testing for websites and mobile apps. He eventually met Sayeed Mehrjerdian, now iAccess Life co-founder and head of product, who helped him develop the app and raise funding.

In 2019, they launched the app and are working on building their user base so the app will have more reviews of more places. They also want to expand the breadth of the app to address accessibility for people with a broader range of disabilities. They recently launched a product to allow for feedback on accessibility issues by scanning a QR code on a sign. They hope to provide input to restaurants, retail spaces, and sports venues on ways they can improve accessibility. Their first big client? Zoo Atlanta.

“You’ll see signs with the iAccess Life logo, and you can share feedback on your experience in that area, your experience at concessions…feedback on how the venue can improve, essentially,” Brandon explains.

Brandon lives the life of an entrepreneur — always with his eye on what is next — and works to support other start-ups through his role at Atlanta Tech Village, managing the pre-accelerator program, a four-month program designed to help underrepresented tech entrepreneurs get their products to market.

Through every venture, Brandon recognizes his experience at Shepherd as one of the major influences in his life.

“After getting back into normal life and meeting other wheelchair users who didn't get to go to Shepherd, I got to see the quality of life that I have because of the therapy and education I got there,” he says. “I feel like I graduated from the Ivy League of rehabilitation. I'm forever grateful for Shepherd because it made me who I am today. It made me feel comfortable being in a wheelchair.”
 

Written by Ruth Underwood

But whether he brings home a win or not, he’s come a long way in all parts of his life. Tyler is in a great place, and he says he’s happy.

Tyler started cutting trees as a summer job in high school and continued to work with a tree removal company after he started college at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. There, he learned to climb trees to cut them.

When his girlfriend at the time found out she was pregnant, he left school and went to work for the tree company full-time.

Although Tyler and his girlfriend split up after his son was born, all three eventually moved to Wilmington, North Carolina. Tyler got a job with another tree removal company and grew to love the city.

On October 27, 2020, Tyler had climbed about 55 feet to cut a large limb from a pine tree when the part of the tree he had a rigging point tied to broke, catapulting him in an arc through the air and then to the ground. Tyler was knocked unconscious, but members of his crew said he landed first on his feet. He sustained multiple injuries, including two broken femurs, broken ribs, a collapsed lung, broken fingers, and a C-4 to C-7 incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). He went to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, where he had multiple surgeries to repair his broken bones. When his mom suggested Shepherd Center for rehabilitation, Tyler was hesitant.

“They told me that it was the best facility this side of the Mississippi River. But they also told me it was in Atlanta and that felt very far away. I wouldn't be able to see my son, my family — but my mom talked me into it, and it was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. When I got to Shepherd, I’d been in a hospital bed for two weeks. I hadn't gotten up, and I was stiff as a board. The second day, they had me in a power wheelchair, and I was going to therapy, working the kinks out,” Tyler recalls.

Tyler spent five months at Shepherd, first as an inpatient in the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program and then in the Spinal Cord Injury Day Program.

“I just kind of did what I was told. It wasn't easy. At first, I fought back a lot, told people I wasn’t going to do things, but then I had to sit back and look at my situation. I looked at the people around me, and it was a shared experience — other people were going through the same thing. I had to look at what I still had that was important to me and plan a route back to normal life,” he recalls.

The Day Program helped him build confidence in his ability to regain independence.

“It created a smooth transition from inpatient to outside. During inpatient, you're in a bubble. You've got everything you need and people there to help you, but transferring over to the Day Program, people are there if you need them, but you’re more on your own in the apartment. Of course, there’s help available — and my stepmom was there with me from day one. I'm definitely grateful to her for that.”

Throughout his recovery, he stayed close to his family, both immediate and extended, and those relationships remain very important to him.

When he returned to Wilmington, his stepmom stayed with him for a while, and then his sister and nephew needed a place to stay, so they moved into his apartment.

He continued physical therapy at a local outpatient rehab facility, where he gained strength and began to walk with the aid of a walker. He also learned to do independent transfers. He got an accessible van and learned to drive using hand controls.

“I started thinking about what I was going to do, because I just could not stay home all day, every day, not doing anything. I would find things to do, of course, but I wanted direction. I wanted to be independent,” Tyler explains.

So, he enrolled in a local community college to study information technology (IT), and he got a job as a tutor. He’ll graduate with an associate degree in May and has already been accepted to the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, where he’ll pursue a bachelor’s degree in IT. 

Along the way, he met his girlfriend, now fiancée, Dani. She has a daughter, the same age as Tyler’s son, and he says the two kids get along well. They found a house together in Wilmington and recently welcomed two puppies to the family.

 He says he’s a happy guy with a new perspective.

 “I'm a better person than I was before I was injured,” he adds. “This experience has changed me for the better. It’s not like I was a bad person before, but I'm definitely humbler now, and I appreciate things a lot more.”

Written by Ruth Underwood

“I was at Shepherd Center as an inpatient, and I was in the gym during Shepherd’s adaptive fencing practice when the captain asked me if I was interested in trying it out,” Ellen explains. “I tried basketball but was afraid of the ball. I also tried skeet shooting, but it wasn’t stimulating to me. Fencing was the one that stuck.”

Athletic endeavors weren’t new to Ellen. Before her injury, she competed in the equestrian sports eventing and dressage.

After Ellen graduated from the inpatient program and transitioned to Shepherd Center’s outpatient Day Program, she began traveling from her home in Aiken, South Carolina, to Shepherd Center every Saturday for fencing practice. Her hard work paid off, and she was able to attend her first World Cup for adaptive fencing just two years after her injury.

“It was a little like being thrown to the wolves,” Ellen laughs. “But the fact that Shepherd provides support for sports, outside of success and medals, is a great benefit to people learning how to exist post-injury, and that support was why I was able to stick with it and make it to my first World Cup in Montreal.”

From then on, Ellen continued to train hard and compete, winning four bronze and two silver World Cup medals.

“I’m really proud of those medals,” she explains. “The Americas Paralympic team had not won a World Cup medal in fencing since 2014, so six World Cup medals are a big deal. We also won a Zonal Championship, which includes the Americas and Africa.”

In addition to her accomplishments in World Cup competitions, Ellen ranked third in the world on the Paralympic ranking list for foil, a lightweight, flexible weapon in which points are earned by touching an opponent’s torso, after competing in the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.

“Shepherd Center essentially helped get me to the Paralympics,” she says. “Their support leading up to the Paralympics and chasing all the points we needed in all the World Cups before then was invaluable.”

While Ellen has been successful in her athletic career, she is still working to overcome the anxiety that comes with competition.

“Focus on the process instead of the outcome,” she advises. “And if you want to try a sport and be good at it, be prepared to fail and lose first. Keep grinding it out because you’re not going to be good when you start. That was always a big thought process for me. Don’t give up because you’re not good in the beginning.”

As Ellen continues in her pursuit to qualify for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, she reflects on her career as an athlete and the effect the para-athletic community has had on her.

“The ability to continue to compete in athletics, have access to adaptive sports, and have people I could communicate with was really helpful to transition to life with a spinal cord injury,” she explains. “It was useful community building with people who have similar goals and experiences in a way that I think being in a nonathletic community would not have been for me. With so many teams at Shepherd, you can try all the options and find a community and what you’re good at. We’re fortunate to have that access.”

Written by Lindsey Rieben

 “I love talking with people who come down from inpatient to watch us practice,” Travis says, “because I did the exact same thing.”

Travis, who came to Shepherd with a C-7 spinal cord injury from a snowboarding accident, remembers his first time in the Livingston Gym and seeing banners with different sports teams’ names on them.

“The Shepherd Sluggers? The Shepherd Swords? What is all this?” Travis, 38, recalls asking his recreational therapists.

They are just two of the 10 sports teams comprising the Fred, Shaler, and Andrew Alias Sports Teams program at Shepherd Center. The sports program allows individuals with physical disabilities to play sports on a recreational or competitive level.

Once Travis learned about the teams, he’d find out their schedules and watch as many practices and games as possible, especially the Shepherd Smash, Shepherd Center’s quad rugby squad. The physicality and athleticism of the athletes blew him away. But while watching from mere feet away, he sometimes felt like the play in front of him might as well have been happening on a planet a million miles away.

“I’d find myself dreaming about playing on that team,” Travis recalls. “But then I’d think, ‘Right now, I can’t get out of my bed without a Hoyer Lift. How am I supposed to push a rugby chair?’”

Today, Travis has indeed worked his way onto the Shepherd Smash, a testament to his hard work and the therapy he received at Shepherd Center. He’s also a catcher on the Shepherd Sluggers softball team.

But he has not forgotten being the spectator on the sidelines.

“It humbles me to be on the other side now, so I want to be a mentor and an encouragement for those watching me,” he says.

What does he tell current patients who come to watch the Smash?

“‘You can do anything you want. There’s always a way,” Travis says. “Don’t let anyone say you can’t do something. Consider that a challenge. Shepherd, man, they opened my eyes to everything. I’ve learned that if you’ve got people willing to help and teach, you can do anything.”

Of course, it’s not just sports that make for an adventurous life. Travis is a father of three kids — 10, 11, and 14 — and a husband to Brianna. Their shared life in Cumming, Georgia, is all about adventure. There’s “barn life” with the family’s horse, "farm life” with the family’s cattle on a farm in south Forsyth, and plenty of “dog life” with Travis’ new companion Gus, a 100-pound Doberman service dog. There’s also lots of shuttling time, as Travis has started driving the kids to school, church, doctor’s appointments, and their own sports.

All of the adventures are well-documented on Travis’ @c7quadsquad TikTok account, which has more than 8,000 followers who love the family’s candid, heart-warming interactions. His oldest daughter is a frequent and funny interviewer who quizzes her dad on how he gets dressed, gets in his car, and deals with people taking his accessible parking space. One video, of Travis “jumping” in the pool with his kids has more than nine million views.

“We’re living life, that’s for sure!” Travis says. “It’s just a fun way to show folks what’s possible. I’m still here. The Lord ain’t done with me yet. We’re rollin’.”

There’s more to come, too, including lots of travel. 

Already, the family has taken several post-injury road trips, and soon they’ll head to Chicago for the Wheelchair Softball World Series. They’ll get there by plane, something they didn’t do much of pre-injury. Thankfully, Travis and Brianna participated in a Shepherd Center airport outing to learn how to navigate security, boarding, and much more. 

“I’m so glad they did that because I didn’t have a clue how we’d manage it,” Travis says. “We’re ready to go now!”

Written by Phillip Jordan

One month before Noah’s 18th birthday, he was out with his friends at a trampoline park, enjoying a day of fun and recreation. In an attempt to do a double front flip, Noah landed on his head, sustaining a high-level spinal cord injury. He was rushed to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, where he received treatment and was referred to Shepherd Center.  

Noah spent two months as an inpatient at Shepherd Center’s Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program, grinding hard to regain his strength. Once he went home, he didn't stop there. Noah returned for the Day Program, pushing himself to new limits. That’s when he heard about the Shepherd Smash rugby team, one of the 11 adaptive sports teams of Shepherd Center’s Fred, Shaler, and Andrew Alias Sports Teams Program. Being part of the Smash pushed his rehabilitation to a new level.

“About a year after my injury, I was asked to come try out adaptive rugby,” says Noah. “For someone newly in a chair, it was good to have people in chairs around you who have been doing this for a while. Not just to learn from them, but to have people who know exactly what you’re dealing with. There, they do.”

Being part of that team gave him a sense of camaraderie and a chance to unleash his competitive side again, but that was just the beginning. Noah found other adrenaline-pumping activities like waterskiing after participating in Shepherd Center’s Adventure Skills Workshop (ASW), a weekend camp designed for people with life-changing injuries or illnesses to practice hands-on adventure skills. There, he met Bill Furbish, an 11-time national champion in adaptive waterskiing and the adaptive waterski coach.

 “He saw that I had an interest and took me under his wing, and he hasn’t let go since.”

On top of picking up two new sports, Noah could not stay away from his true love: mountain biking.

“Now that I was in this new life, I felt like the only way to truly get back to being myself was through mountain biking,” explains Noah. “It was the longest sport to get back to because I didn’t have the means to get a mountain bike. So, the community came together to help me raise funds and get back to mountain biking. I feel like I’m myself again.”

Noah’s mission is to raise awareness for adaptive mountain biking in the Southeast so he can help others regain their independence as well.

Adaptive sports have been a game-changer for Noah – both physically and mentally. Being surrounded by people who understand what he's been through and having the chance to compete again have been essential in building his confidence.

“Of all the paths you can take to rehabilitation, I think sports is the number one,” he says. “If you can, I definitely recommend giving it a try.” 

Written by Lindsey Rieben

Pursuing Possible with Shepherd Center

To support patient stories like this, please consider contributing to Shepherd Center's Pursuing Possible campaign. Click here to learn more.

This year, Tatyana McFadden, 32, of Clarksville, Maryland, won the women’s open division with a first-place finishing time of 24:07.52. This is her eighth win. In the men’s open, Daniel Romanchuk, 20, of Champaign, Illinois, took the crown to win with a finishing time of 19:04.09. It is his fourth win.

“We were thrilled to once again welcome an elite field of racers to Shepherd Center’s Wheelchair Division of the AJC Peachtree Road Race,” said Rebecca Washburn, MS, manager of Shepherd Center’s Beyond Therapy^® and wellness programs. “These athletes are an incredible display of dedication, perseverance and athleticism as they speed up Cardiac Hill and past Shepherd Center. This race was particularly special because it marks both our 40^th year and a return to in-person racing.”

The 6.2-mile competition began on Lenox Road in the heart of Buckhead, Atlanta’s shopping district, and followed Peachtree Road for six miles, passing Shepherd Center, before slicing through the heart of Midtown to the finish line at 10^th Street and Piedmont Park. The race is one of the largest and fastest wheelchair 10Ks in the country.

The top finishers in each division received peach-shaped crystalline trophies in a ceremony following the race. 

The Atlanta Track Club was the platinum sponsor of the event, and MARTA was the silver sponsor. Other donors included JW Marriott Atlanta Buckhead, the Kyle Pease Foundation and Halls Atlanta Flowers. Sponsors defrayed travel and lodging expenses for racers and awarded cash prizes to winners.

A complete list of Wheelchair Division winners and more race information is available here or as a PDF download on this page. Additional race results are available at atlantatrackclub.org.

Photos by Steve Schaefer

“They didn’t give me much assistance, either,” Mack says. “They’d just come by every few minutes and say, ‘Hey, your shorts still aren’t on.’ I remember thinking, ‘This is the place that’s supposed to be so great? Don’t they know I’m paralyzed?’”

“But they knew what they were doing and they knew what I was capable of,” he adds. “That’s what I grew to love about Shepherd Center. They prepare you. They challenge you. They support you, but they don’t pity you.”

Another challenge he received at Shepherd Center was to try some new sports. A former high school football player, Mack had never played basketball competitively. But during his six-month stay at Shepherd Center, he started falling for the game, enamored with its competitiveness, physicality and camaraderie. He began practicing with the Shepherd Stealers basketball team, and when he left, the coaches gave him information on a summer hoops camp at Auburn University.

Today, Mack, an accounting major, is a member of Auburn’s wheelchair basketball team, where he attends thanks to a scholarship from the Swim With Mike Foundation. Mack has also struck up an unlikely friendship with NBA legend Bill Walton. A chance encounter at a Dateland sandwich shop in Arizona turned into an ongoing bond between the two athletes. Thanks to Walton’s encouragement, Mack has spread his sporting focus to cycling and swimming, too, and has become active with the Challenged Athletes Foundation. At Walton’s invitation, Mack even participated in the Million Dollar Challenge – handcycling with Walton’s team down portions of the 620-mile route along the California coastline.

Mack still visits patients and staff at Shepherd Center whenever he passes through Atlanta, too.

“This is where I learned the importance of going forward and staying active,” Mack says. “Now, I’m the one telling new patients to try doing more than they think they’re ready to!”

Written by Phillip Jordan

Participants must complete an online application and pay a registration fee of $35 per person by June 10, 2018. All athletes must meet a 45-minute qualifying time. A 10K race time, including date and location, are required with the registration form.

Every July 4, more than 60 world-class athletes from around the globe compete in this annual 10K event. The Wheelchair Division follows the course set for the Peachtree Road Race foot racers – 6.2 miles down Peachtree Road, starting at Lenox Road and ending on 10th Street at Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta.

Shepherd Center staff members, patients and their families always line the race route along Peachtree Road in front of the hospital to cheer on the wheelchair and foot racers. The event is covered live by WXIA-TV 11 Alive News in Atlanta.

“It is an amazing event for the athletes and patients to participate in,” said Rebecca Washburn, manager of Shepherd Center’s Beyond Therapy® and wellness programs. “It gives our patients a sense of what each of them can achieve.”

Wheelchair Division participants can download more details about the event in the downloads section above.

Shepherd Center will be hosting a pre-race social for Wheelchair Division athletes and their guests on July 3. Also, a post-race brunch for athletes and their guests will be held at Shepherd Center immediately following the race.

For more information, contact Rebecca Washburn at (404) 350-7787 or rebecca.washburn@shepherd.org.

So how does someone go from being overcome with fear to participating in a triathlon? By attending a Shepherd Center sports clinic, part of the hospital’s extensive recreation therapy program.

Six years ago, after experiencing partial paralysis and severe pain on her left side, doctors discovered Yvette had a genetic disease called Arnold-Chiari malformation in which the brain tissue extends into the spinal cord. During surgery on her brain to repair the condition, she became paralyzed at the T-10 level. To recover from the surgery, she received treatment at Shepherd Pathways, Shepherd Center’s post-acute brain injury program.

In the years since her surgery, Yvette had been trying land activities on her own to maintain her physical health. But when Gustavo Duran-Monge, MS, CSCS, a sports specialist in Shepherd Center’s Recreational Therapy Department, told her about the paratriathlon workshop, she decided to try it.

“When they put me in the water, I was holding on to Yvette Tisdale (Shepherd Center aquatics specialist), so tightly that my finger nails were digging into her arm,” Yvette recalls. “But she calmed me down and just encouraged me to trust her. Thirty minutes later, you couldn’t get me out of the water.”

During the workshop, Yvette also learned how to pedal on a handcycle and propel herself in a racing wheelchair. The next day, she completed her first paratriathlon.

Exposing patients and community members to the possibilities of adaptive sports is the job – and passion – of Duran-Monge and colleague Matt Edens, CTRS, sports teams coordinator at Shepherd Center. They help patients find sports they are interested in – whether they participated before their injury or are looking for another sport to play – and provide them with the resources they need to accomplish their goals.

Shepherd Center sponsors one of the largest adaptive sports program in North America with 11 sports teams – from quad rugby to basketball to swimming and racing. The program allows individuals with physical disabilities to participate in sports on a recreational or competitive level.

“We offer sports at all skill levels from novice to elite athletes,” Edens says, “Some teams – like basketball – have several divisions.”

Edens says they have approximately 100 athletes who compete on a competitive level, including some who have qualified to represent the United States in the Paralympic Games. Shepherd Center teams and individuals have won national and international competitions.

All team members practice together, regardless of their skill level.

“The newer athletes learn from the pros,” Edens says. “It is wonderful to have that level of diversity. The new athletes are inspired to continue to push themselves.”

To participate on a Shepherd Center sports team, it is not necessary to have been a patient. Community members with disabilities are also welcome. Participants include people with spinal cord injuries, spina bifida, multiple sclerosis and amputations. Some people who start out by learning a skill in a clinic graduate to joining a sports team later, Edens notes.

Both Duran-Monge and Edens meet with people interested in participating in sports and then make recommendations based on their interests. They encourage clients to try more than one sport to get a cross-training effect. Duran-Monge usually meets with patients during their stay at Shepherd Center, while Edens meets with former patients who have returned to their communities.

“The goal is to expose them to ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle,” Duran-Monge says. “We show them options, how to use the equipment needed and empower them to do it. Some don’t think they’ll ever be able to do sports again. This opens their eyes to a whole new world.”

Duran-Monge oversees clinics in kayaking, hiking, tennis, handcycling, archery and golf, just to name a few. All the equipment is provided, and participants are shown how to use it. Five to six clinics are held throughout the Southeast each year, in Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Alabama. He tries to choose sites outside of a hospital setting, such as community recreation centers and state parks.

“We want people to enjoy life and not have to be connected to the hospital all of the time,” he says. “The thinking is to introduce participants to groups and facilities in the community so they can become aware and use the resources available to them in their own communities.”

Two weeks after her triathlon, Yvette was back at another skills clinic – this time trying her hand at waterskiing. She also plans to participate in Shepherd Center’s adaptive golf event and a snow ski clinic in Colorado this winter.

“Shepherd Center has opened me up to the world of adaptive sports,” she says. “I never even dreamed I would be able to do so much post-injury. It gave me the confidence, improved health and the feeling of pride you get when you push yourself to accomplish a goal, and the freedom of moving past the fear to live forward after a life-changing event. I am much more active now than I was before my injury!”

Shepherd Center is thankful to the donors who make Shepherd Center sports and recreation therapy programs possible. To learn more and contribute, please visit shepherd.org/giving.

Written by Sara Baxter
Photos by Louie Favorite and courtesy of Yvette Pegues

“I had learned at Shepherd Center that life goes on. You’ve just got to reignite the fire somehow,” Chase says. “For me, it was skydiving. Sometimes you’ve got to scare yourself silly to realize you’re still alive. That was pivotal for me.”

Chase, who lives in Mandeville, Louisiana, didn’t slow down from there. At Shepherd Center, Chase was introduced to adaptive sports, especially handcycling. The return to action re-energized him. Handcycling and swimming led to skydiving. Skydiving led to auto racing. Together, all of it led to something else – the realization that he needed to share his newfound life philosophy with others.

Chase credits Shepherd Center’s emphasis on peer mentoring with giving him the desire to mentor others in his home community. In 2013, that desire culminated in the creation of the Chase Your Dreams Foundation.

“The idea was that sometimes all is takes to really live again, to create a new start for yourself, is a positive, inspiring experience,” Chase says. “So, let’s focus on that and declutter the rest. It’s about simplifying things and embracing what life has to offer.”

Recently, his foundation work has slowed, but there’s a good reason for that. Chase, who lives independently with help from his service dog Delta, just started his first full-time job since being injured. A self-professed “tech geek,” he’s now a web developer with a commercial marketing company.

“The one universal thing I tell everybody who’s going through something similar is that it’s going to be OK,” Chase says. “It’s just going to be a different version of OK. That’s true for everyone. We all face different ordeals in life. You just find what helps you reach the other side.”

Written by Phillip Jordan

This year, Tatyana McFadden, 27, of Clarksville, Maryland, won the women’s open division with a first-place finishing time of 23:15.51. She also won the race in 2010-2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. In the men’s open, Daniel Romanchuk, 18, of Urbana, Illinois, took the crown to win with a finishing time of 20:02.76. It was his first win.

The 6.2-mile competition began on Lenox Road in the heart of Buckhead, Atlanta’s shopping district, and followed Peachtree Road for six miles before slicing through the heart of Midtown to the finish line at 10^th Street and Piedmont Park. The race is the one of the largest and fastest wheelchair 10Ks in the country.

The top finishers in each division received peach-shaped crystalline trophies in a ceremony at Shepherd Center following the race. Then, racers attended a post-race brunch and its Junior Committee, which helps organize the race, doled out cash prizes. Numerous Shepherd Center volunteers and staff members coordinated race logistics, including reviewing applications, orchestrating the start and finish, monitoring the times and overseeing the needs of the athletes.

The Atlanta Track Club was the platinum sponsor of the event, and MARTA was the silver sponsor. Other donors included Intercontinental Buckhead Hotel, the Kyle Pease Foundation and Global Flowers. Sponsors provided pre-and post-race brunches, defrayed travel and lodging expenses for racers and awarded cash prizes to winners.

A complete list of Wheelchair Division winners and more race information is availabe as a PDF download above. Additional race results are available at atlantatrackclub.org.

Photos by Kevin Liles

This year, the race – founded and sponsored by Shepherd Center – draws athletes from seven countries, including Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Spain, Venezuela and the United States.

Shepherd Center will share race results, photos and video via the hospital's social media channels during and after the event. Follow us on Facebook, via Twitter at @ShepherdCenter and on Instagram at “shepherdcenter.”

The Wheelchair Division follows the course set for the Peachtree Road Race foot racers – 6.2 miles down Peachtree Road, starting at Lenox Road and ending on 10th Street at Piedmont Park in Midtown.

If you are near Shepherd Center, be sure to join our staff, patients and their families as they line the race route along Peachtree Road in front of the hospital to cheer on the wheelers and runners. If you can't make it to Peachtree Road on July 4, tune in to 11Alive/WXIA-TV for live race coverage beginning at 6 a.m.

The full roster of athletes and a "Fast Facts" sheet are available here.

A wheelchair racer, Brett sprints in the 100-, 400- and 800-meter events. He’s attempting to qualify for nationals, to be held at UCLA in June. If Brett places highly enough there, he would make the U.S. national team heading to London for this July’s World Para Athletics Championships. Brett’s ultimate goal is the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

“It’s all about pushing yourself,” he says. “Big goals open your eyes. Why not shoot for the stars? Your motivation dies out without a goal.”

Brett knows something about big goals. In 2014, as a sophomore on Penn State University’s soccer team, he scored an eye-popping, game-winning goal in that fall’s NCAA tournament.

One month later, Brett’s professional soccer dreams were over. Over Christmas vacation, he sustained a T-6 spinal cord injury in a snowboarding accident.

“It was a process to recover that competitive fire again,” Brett says.

What helped, he says, was getting into an aggressive physical rehabilitation routine in Shepherd Center’s Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program after transferring from the University of Virginia Medical Center.

“Nothing can prepare you for how grueling and taxing that is, mentally as much as physically,” Brett says. “But you learn habits. You see results and you feed off the progress.”

He also had access to Shepherd Center’s sports program, the largest adaptive sports program in North America. There, Brett got a glimpse of how his competitive desire could be applied in new sports.

Brett returned to Penn State and served as a student coach for the soccer team. He also trained in the university’s Ability Athletics program and tried out for the 2016 Rio Games – coming within one spot of making the U.S. Paralympic team. That’s nothing but fuel for Tokyo 2020.

“Finding this athletic pursuit has given me focus and direction,” Brett says. “You never truly understand how strong you can be, what you’re capable of, until adversity hits you.”

Written by Phillip Jordan

For Cassie, 35, a veteran of Shepherd Center’s rugby, cycling, swimming and track teams, the path to her second Team USA selection came loaded with more obstacles than in 2012. This past April, Cassie was diagnosed with leukemia. Aggressive chemotherapy and a case of septic pneumonia kept her in a hospital until 10 days before the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials in Charlotte, N.C. Then, just before she flew to Charlotte, she contracted shingles, a viral infection that causes extremely painful rashes.

“When I was still in the hospital and the Trials were approaching, I said, ‘I’m getting out of here if I have to pull the IV tubes out myself,’” Cassie says. “I know it was a blessing to come out of that in time to compete. I’m still a little shocked that I was able to do it.”

Cassie qualified for the Paralympic Games in two field events – discus and club throw, the Paralympic equivalent of the hammer throw. She qualified in the discus just before passing out on the field. “I think the heat combined with the chemo put me over the edge,” Cassie says, laughing about it now. “Luckily, I made my mark before I passed out.”

That determination is indicative of Cassie’s approach to life. The Oklahoma native was 18 – and already a star athlete in track, gymnastics and horseback events – when a neurological condition called Devic’s neuromyelitis optica resulted in quadriplegia. As an adult, Cassie moved to Atlanta to pursue her doctoral degree in biomedical engineering. There, she discovered Shepherd Center and its array of sports teams that enable individuals with physical disabilities to participate in sports on a recreational and/or competitive level.

“The daily benefits of staying active far outweigh any medals,” Cassie says. “I started into sports to get into better shape. It helped me in everything from transfers to grocery shopping. It gave me confidence and greater independence. And it gave me an extended family at Shepherd Center that I know is behind me every day.”

By the way, making the U.S. Olympic team is just one of Cassie’s impressive accolades this year. In July, she was a female finalist for the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Athlete of the Month award – alongside such luminaries as tennis legend Serena Williams and star gymnast Simone Biles. Cassie’s nomination recognized her gutsy Paralympic Trials performance, as well as the two world records she set this year in the T51 100-meter and 400-meter events.

“Just seeing my name next to those other athletes, wow,” Cassie says. “It shows that anything is possible. Hopefully, that inspires a few people to dream big, no matter the obstacles.”

Finish Line in Sight

Krige Schabort is certainly dreaming big in his last go-around with Team USA. The five-time Olympian plans to retire from the team after Rio, but not before making a little history.

Krige’s specialty has long been the marathon. The 53-year-old qualified for the marathon in all five of his past Paralympic Games appearances – four with his native South Africa and once with Team USA (2012) after becoming an American citizen. He notched three top 10 finishes and reached the medal podium twice, taking home a bronze in 1992 and a silver in 2000. Eventually, though, Krige’s passion for his signature event waned, and he turned his sights to a new challenge – triathlons.

“I was at a point with marathons where I did not feel the butterflies in my stomach anymore,” Krige says. “I’d just been doing it for so long. But I am definitely reenergized doing triathlons. Those butterflies are back!”

He’s already proved that he can handle the pressure. In 2010 and 2011, he claimed consecutive triathlon victories at the grueling IRONMAN World Championships, held on Hawaii’s famed Kona Coast. In 2015, his triathlon success earned him an ESPY Award, presented by ESPN, for best male athlete with a disability. Despite all the success in his newfound sport, though, one opportunity was still missing. Krige didn’t have a chance to prove himself on the Olympic stage in 2012 because the triathlon wasn’t yet a Paralympic sport. This year, the event makes its debut in Rio.

“The addition of the triathlon is what kept me training,” Krige says. “It’s going to be special to be part of a team that’s starting a new Paralympic tradition.”

His continued presence on the U.S. team has also allowed younger athletes to get advice from an experienced veteran.

“Very experienced,” Krige says with a laugh. “I’m the oldest by so far that I’m older than the coaches. So it’s definitely time, but I’m already anticipating that sense of loss when I do retire. It’s a great team and an incredible bond to be part of. It’s been an honor.”

Of course, he’ll still have outlets for his competitive drive. Krige will continue racing in individual competitions – and he will remain a member of the Shepherd Spinners and Cyclers sports teams.

“When my family moved from South Africa to Atlanta, I quickly joined the Shepherd Center teams,” he says. “It was a huge benefit to me both athletically and personally. It’s where I’ve made so many good friends. I want to stay a part of that for a long time.”

Krige jokes that he might even start acting his age.

“Maybe I’ll do some coaching moving forward, too,” he says. “So many younger athletes around here already just assume I am one, that’s probably a natural progression!”

By Phillip Jordan

The 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio take place Sept. 7-18, with coverage available on NBC. Visit the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games website and the Team USA Paralympics site for news and updates.

From football to softball to basketball and outdoor adventures, this edition's cover story features athletes who have thrived due to their never quit attitudes and Shepherd Center's intensive and holsitive approach to rehabilitation. 

The features section includes these stories among inspiring patient profiles, event updates, honorariums and memorials.

Shepherd Center Launches New, User-Driven Patient Engagement Portal
Online program gives people with spinal cord injury easy access to essential injury-related information.

Mother/Son Duo Rail Against the Danger
Even as he continues to recover from a brain injurt he sustained when falling out of his bunk bed, Clark Jacobs and his mother rail against the danger of loft beds.

Like a Phoenix Rising
Natalie Barnhard's relentless drive carries her through more than a decade of healing.

Hope Grows with Horticulture Therapy
Program provides an opportunity for both first-time and experienced gardeners to help Shepherd Center's garden flourish.

To subscribe to the print and/or e-newsletter versions of Shepherd Center's magazine, visit https://www.shepherd.org.

“At Shepherd Center, the biggest thing I learned was that I could still do just about anything I want to,” Bobby says. “It’s just about adapting and figuring out new ways to do certain things.”

One of the first activities Bobby learned to do was water ski, something he’s still passionate about 20 years later. Just last year, he added snow skiing to his sports resumé, thanks to an intense five-day training session in Breckenridge, Colo., by the Alpine Adaptive Scholarship Program, which was founded in cooperation with Shepherd Center. Halfway through the first day, Bobby was skiing independently. By day two, he was already seeking more difficult terrain higher up the slopes.

“Being an athlete is something that does not go away – the drive and the competitive spirit,” he says. “So to find a new way to stoke that fire, that was great. I wanted to be the most successful guy in the program!”

Today, Bobby, a professional risk manager for State Farm Insurance, shares his story with schools and youth groups, focusing on choice and consequence. He also has found a way to stay involved in baseball through the years, both as a coach and mentor. On the first Saturday of August, Bobby hosts Bobby’s Backyard Wiffle Ball Tournament in his hometown of Cordele, Ga., to raise funds for a program that sends low-income schoolchildren home with food for the weekend. Last year, 38 teams raised $3,500.

If Bobby’s life – sports, work, giving back – doesn’t seem all that unique, well, he says, that’s kind of the point.

“Walking isn’t the only miracle that’s performed at Shepherd Center,” Bobby says. “I live such a normal life. I enjoy my family. I work 50 hours a week. I have fun on the weekends. I think that’s the true testament to what happens at Shepherd Center. My life is really no different than anyone else’s.”

By Phillip Jordan
 

The race – founded and sponsored by Shepherd Center – draws athletes from eight countries, including the United States, Australia, Costa Rica, Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria and Spain.

This year, Shepherd Center will share results, photos and video via the hospital's social media channels during and after the race. Follow us on Facebook, via Twitter at @ShepherdCenter and on Instagram at “shepherdcenter.”

The Wheelchair Division follows the course set for the Peachtree Road Race foot racers – 6.2 miles down Peachtree Road, starting at Lenox Road and ending on 10th Street at Piedmont Park in Midtown.

If you are near Shepherd Center, be sure to join our staff, patients and their families as they line the race route along Peachtree Road in front of the center to cheer on the runners. If you can't make it to Peachtree Road on July 4, tune in to 11Alive/WXIA-TV for live race coverage beginning at 6 a.m.

The full roster of athletes and a "Fast Facts" sheet are available by clicking here.

“Shepherd Center already operates several health and wellness programs through ProMotion and Beyond Therapy^®,” says Shari McDowell, director of the Spinal Cord Injury Program at Shepherd Center. “These services have existed for a long time, but this grant allows us to look beyond our walls. When patients finish their time with Shepherd Center, we want to extend our support beyond that initial rehabilitation experience by helping them truly reintegrate into society and learn skills that will lead to healthier lifestyles.”

Unfortunately, McDowell says, there is often a lack of community-based health education, wellness programs and recreational activities for people with SCI. Yet these individuals show an increased risk for early cardiovascular disease, which is also the leading cause of death in this patient population.

This program’s tiered framework is designed to help mitigate this risk and overcome barriers to reintegration by educating individuals and communities on the importance of wellness programs tailored specifically to individuals with SCI.

Four components comprise “From Injury to Integration: Closing the Healthcare Gap”:

1. Health, wellness and leisure expo: This June 27, 2015 event at Shepherd Center will incorporate guest speakers, exhibit booths and demonstrations addressing topics such as nutrition and weight loss, blood pressure monitoring, exercise, women’s health, diabetes management, healthy skin care, emotional support, smoking cessation and respiratory health. It is open to the public, and the Neilsen Foundation grant will fund travel scholarships for 15 people with SCI who would benefit from participating in the expo.

1. Train-the-trainer community wellness program: Modeled after a successful Shepherd Center partnership with Delta Air Lines, this program component will engage other nonprofit organizations that promote health and fitness. Initial outreach will extend to local YMCA facilities, says Becky Washburn, Shepherd Center’s ProMotion and Beyond Therapy director. “Anyone who comes through Shepherd Center, we’re training them and their family members on what they need to do when they get back home to remain active and healthy,” Washburn explains. “What we haven’t been able to do is impact the larger community in this way. We can’t see everyone, but if people have the knowledge and the right tools, they’re better positioned to engage in an active lifestyle over the long term.”

Shepherd Center staff members will visit fitness facilities to educate staff members there on SCI and its effects on physical mobility, as well as provide them with information on hardware and technologies that can contribute to heathy living. An example is grasping cuffs for upper-body bikes. The first training session is slated for March.

1. Community-based health and wellness program: Shepherd Center will host six community-based and wellness events – three in Greater Atlanta and three in the Southeast – to promote exercise and long-term health. This third tier seeks to raise awareness of risks such as obesity and hypertension, and offer hands-on recreation opportunities to mitigate those risks. Those opportunities include handcycling, tennis, softball and other activities at local recreation centers. The first community-based program will be held at Shepherd Center in March with others to follow throughout 2015.

1. Community re-entry and accessibility assessment activities: This component of the program will work with current or former Shepherd Center SCI patients to help assess, then eliminate, barriers for becoming – and staying – active. Specific activities include:

• Visits to local fitness centers.
• Assistance in establishing an exercise program customized for the individual.
• Home visits that offer tailored home modification recommendations.
• Visits to college campuses, including dorm rooms, student centers and campus fitness facilities, to help prepare individuals for active lifestyles as part of their college experience.
• Work-site visits to improve existing work environments or to create new activities in which individuals can participate after returning to work.

For more information on the “From Injury to Integration: Closing the Healthcare Gap” program, contact Spinal Cord Injury Program director Shari McDowell at shari_mcdowell@shepherd.org or 404-350-7676. To sign up for any of the health and wellness clinics, visit shepherd.org/sci-clinics.

Written By Shawn Reeves

I have always been passionate about sports. I am an avid water skier, softball player, basketball player, road racer and more. I have competed against some of the world’s most athletic individuals while traveling around the United States and even internationally. In fact, I successfully compete in sports while simultaneously owning a business, Alexia Medical Group.

All of that seems pretty incredible, right? In my situation, it is especially significant because I have T-4 paraplegia, which means I am still a gifted athlete with paralysis from the chest down. I do not look at my injury as something that limits me. Instead, I look at it with a positive mindset of “What else can I do?”

Before I sustained a spinal cord injury at age 16, I was a sports fanatic. I loved it all – basketball, running and even motocross. The fact that I was already athletic before my injury certainly helped with my involvement in adaptive sports, but that does not mean the transition from able-bodied activities to adaptive was a simple task. There were a lot of physical and mental hurdles to overcome that required confidence, patience and irreplaceable aid from both the staff at Shepherd Center and friends I made along the way.

I also realized that a positive attitude is incredibly important because it is one of the first things that others notice about me. Granted, like everyone else in the world, I have my share of dark days. But I choose to get back in the light and be positive. It’s more important to me to be inspirational to others than to dwell on my shortcomings.

Before I achieved my athletic goals, I underwent intense therapy and rehabilitation at Shepherd Center. In the past several years, that rehabilitation has paid off, helping me reach my goals, one of which was the National Water Ski title in early September. I traveled to White Stone Lake Estates in Talking Rock, Ga., for the 2014 U.S. Disabled Waterski Nationals and came home with a National Title for Ski Jump in the men’s seated division – thanks to my sponsors, Shepherd Center and the Barbra Bolding and Jim Grew Fund. I was thrilled to take home a national title.

Winning and succeeding athletically is not something new to me. In fact, just last year, I competed in the World Disabled Waterski Nationals as a U.S. team member and came home with a gold medal. The U.S. team prevailed over 11 teams in Milan, Italy, marking the team’s third consecutive win. I was even able to hold the U.S. flag during the opening ceremony at the tournament. That was a huge honor in itself. I am also a member of the Shepherd Center Sluggers softball team, which traveled to Minnesota in August to compete in the World Series of Softball. Sports are a part of who I am, and my participation has served as a great way to inspire others to discover what they can do – instead of what limits them.

Both Shepherd Center and the friends I’ve met through adaptive sports have helped me achieve my athletic accomplishments and live a fulfilling life. Shepherd Center never felt like just a hospital or rehabilitation center to me. It feels like a home filled with family members who genuinely care about me. Their goal is to ensure that people live a full, happy life instead of just helping heal their injuries. The friends I’ve met through adaptive sports have really pushed me to work harder and succeed at whatever I do. I often tell people: “Everyone in life has a wheelchair of some kind. You can just see mine."

One of Shepherd Center’s main goals is to provide peer support during rehabilitation. Each individual receives more than just medical care; they receive an experience that brings healing and hope. This statement is certainly true for me. I look at everything I have accomplished after becoming a T-4 paraplegic, and even though my accident was a tragedy, there have many more positives than negatives to come out of it.

To learn more about Shepherd Center's sports teams, click here.

JEREMY MADDOX is a champion, multi-sport athlete with T-4 paraplegia. He sustained a spinal cord injury at age 16. Now 32 years old, Jeremy is a successful business owner and lives a full life that includes competition in adaptive water skiing, softball, basketball and wheelchair racing. He lives in metro Atlanta. You can connect with Jeremy at jmad613@gmail.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jeremy.maddox or LinkedIn by clicking here.