Koltyn Roper has been playing baseball for eight years. 

It would be a long time for anyone, but for 12-year-old Koltyn, it seems even longer. He’s been playing the sport for two-thirds of his life.

Koltyn’s baseball career shifted, however, after he sustained a spinal cord injury in an accident in December 2025. After two weeks in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, he transferred to Shepherd Center to begin rehabilitation in the Adolescent Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Koltyn said before leaving Shepherd Center to return home to Dawsonville, Georgia, in April. During his several months at the hospital, he became known on the floor for telling jokes and getting laughs out of his therapists.

Throughout his time at Shepherd Center, his therapy team found ways to infuse his passion for baseball into his therapy. One activity brought the baseball diamond straight into his room: video games.

“I did play a lot of video games before, I played with a lot of my friends from different counties, just because [we aren’t able to see each other as much],” Koltyn says. “I played with my brothers, too.”

Playing video games after his injury proved to be a little different. Koltyn had reduced mobility in his hands and couldn’t use the controller the same way he did before his injury. But Graylyn Jones, OTR/L, an assistive technology therapist in the Access Technology Lab, showed Koltyn how an adaptive controller could help him play his favorite XBOX games again. Video games are often incorporated into recreation therapy sessions at Shepherd Center, which aim to help patients rebuild confidence and independence after injury through engaging in activities outside the hospital room or therapy gym. Thanks to generous donor support, rec therapy is a throughline over the course of a patient’s time at Shepherd.

For Koltyn, other recreation therapy sessions included playing wiffle ball and going on outings to the World of Coca-Cola and the SkyView Ferris wheel in Atlanta. But video games, especially, have been a continued hobby for him throughout his rehabilitation. After Koltyn’s session with Jones, his mom, Heather McCall, applied for an adaptive controller from AbleGamers Foundation. AbleGamers’ mission is to create opportunities that enable play in order to combat social isolation, foster inclusive communities, and improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. The organization provides adaptive controllers and other assistive technology to people like Koltyn, keeping them in the game.

While Heather and Koltyn awaited the adaptive controller, there was still one game Koltyn could play with the standard controller. It just so happened to be MLB The Show, a baseball game. During his time in the Spinal Cord Injury Day Program, he would play the game in his family’s apartment at the Woodruff Family Residence Center.

Koltyn had other baseball experiences during his time at Shepherd, too. In March, he returned to his middle school to throw out the first pitch of a baseball game. And in April, just a couple of days before his graduation from the day program, he and his family attended the annual University of Georgia versus Georgia Tech baseball game at Truist Park. Outings like these prepared Koltyn and his family to return home, even if it was bittersweet to say goodbye to their care team here.

“You know, never being in this situation, somebody might not understand, but when they say you're part of the Shepherd family, you really are,” Heather says. ‘These people have become our family.”

Even though Koltyn’s discharge meant saying goodbye to his Shepherd family, going home meant he, his parents, and siblings were all under one roof again, after four months apart. While Heather and Koltyn were at Shepherd Center, Koltyn’s dad, Brady McCall, went back and forth between the hospital and Dawsonville, participating in Koltyn’s therapy sessions and also taking care of his three siblings at home. Getting ready to return home, Koltyn was excited to be with his siblings again, and especially excited for home-cooked meals made by his dad.

It wasn’t long before Koltyn and his family returned to Shepherd Center for a visit. By the time they came back for Project Rollway in June, they had been settling back into life at home. AbleGamers sent Koltyn an adaptive video game controller, giving him the ability to play more video games with his siblings and friends. When Koltyn took to the stage that evening, he and his family got to celebrate the progress he’s made so far.

“It has been absolutely amazing,” Heather says. “From start to finish, he’s made so much progress that we know he would not have made elsewhere. It has been life changing.”

Koltyn plans to return to Shepherd Center next summer for continued therapy, more laughs with his therapists, and to keep making progress. But in the meantime, video games are keeping him connected: to his friends, to the sport that he loves, and simply to life as a 12-year-old kid. 

Written by Erin Kenney

Every year, Tristan, 19, and his dad leave San Antonio, Texas, to go mountain biking in Bentonville, Arkansas. On July 2, 2025, Tristan went down a significant drop where he says he braked too late and was flung over his handlebars. Following his injury, he was life-flighted to the Mercy Hospital ICU in Springfield, Missouri. 

His family knew about Shepherd Center because the hospital was highly recommended by two of Tristan’s friends who had received care there. After 22 days, he was transferred to Shepherd’s ICU for specialized treatment, with his mom Jennifer by his side. His level of injury limited his movement from the neck down, and when he first arrived at Shepherd, he required assistance from a ventilator and trach to breathe. 

“We got to Shepherd, and they immediately had him sitting up out of bed and began motivating him,” Jennifer explains. “He even had a welcoming crew of kids who were patients. They wheeled into his ICU room, introduced themselves and their injuries, and talked about what they had gotten back so far. It was very uplifting.” 

On Aug. 6, Tristan graduated from the ICU to the inpatient unit, where the medical team put him right to work. Among the therapies Tristan recalls as most impactful was electrical stimulation, where stimulation was used over the spinal column to activate his muscles. His team helped him use a tilt table to regulate his fluctuating blood pressure. And they did speech therapy with breathing exercises, which helped him wean off the ventilator a month after arriving at Shepherd. But beyond the focused therapies Tristan received, he appreciated the hospital staff the most, and he showed them that appreciation with his signature sense of sarcasm. 

“I didn’t have a problem psychologically at Shepherd because it was so positive there,” Tristan recalls. “We would just make fun of each other and laugh – there was never an awkward moment. And whenever I’d see a therapist from my team working with another patient, I’d make sure to give them crap by reminding them, ‘Hey, that’s my therapist, give her back!’” 

Tristan not only made friends with his medical team. He quickly made two new best friends, fellow patients Teana Jackson and Libby Presnell. The trio found ways to poke fun at each other at every opportunity. 

“I remember we all went to church one day, and I told [Chaplain Ben Rose] that it was Libby’s birthday, even though it wasn’t. Everyone in the chapel sang happy birthday to her and kept doing it throughout the day. It was the best. We were crying laughing,” Tristan recalls. (Libby got him back later during one of Shepherd’s Tuesday night “family dinners,” where she told attendees it was Tristan’s birthday.) 

In addition to human friends, Tristan loved the furry friends he made at Shepherd Center. 

“I loved every second with the facility dogs. Pippy was my favorite. Every other Friday, dogs that were in training would come up to the workout room and visit everyone,” Tristan says. 

While Tristan worked hard toward his goals, Jennifer was able to stay in family housing at Shepherd Center’s new Arthur M. Blank Family Residences. The donor-funded housing is provided to families and loved ones of patients who are in inpatient rehabilitation who live more than 50 miles from the hospital. 

“That was fabulous,” Jennifer says. “It was only two blocks away, but it was great for me to get breaks, sleep in a real bed, and do things like laundry for Tristan and me. It also gave him a little freedom from me being there all the time!” 

On Sept. 22, Tristan discharged from Shepherd and returned to his hometown in San Antonio. With help from the skills and care he received at Shepherd, he is making progress toward regaining independence. He is working with a pulmonologist to get his trach out and fully breathe on his own. He still experiences some blood pressure issues, but with the tilt table skills he learned with Shepherd’s physical therapists, the family knows how to manage it at home. 

Prior to his injury, Tristan attended college at Texas Tech with his girlfriend, Paula Brame. Paula stopped attending school in-person so she could be there for him, but now, the pair plan to return to school in-person together. They even talk about applying to work at Shepherd Center after completing their degrees. But perhaps the most exciting near-future milestone involves Tristan getting his own service dog. 

“I am not a dog person,” Jennifer says. “But my sister started this whole operation to peer pressure me to get a service dog, and they broke me down. I told Tristan he can apply for his own dog at the one-year mark of his injury.” 

Tristan continues to face his future with hope, humor, and determination. He encourages others to do the same. 

“Wake up and work hard. Every day is a new day and opportunity to keep the faith and stay positive.” 

Written by Damjana Alverson

One evening, as Aiden was studying for a midterm, he noticed his roommate stumbling to the door after drinking, preparing to return to his fraternity house. Aiden immediately offered to drive his roommate.

“Get in, and if you think I’m too bad to drive, then you can drive,” said his roommate.

Aiden reluctantly agreed. His roommate drove erratically through town, reaching speeds over 100 miles an hour before he hit a curb, sending the car flying until it landed against a pole. Aiden immediately knew that he could not feel or move anything below his neck, and when the car caught fire, he could only feel the heat on his face.

A bystander rushed over to the vehicle.

“You have to pull me out,” Aiden instructed.

Just as the bystander pulled Aiden from the vehicle and got him safely across the street, the car was engulfed in flames.

Aiden was life-flighted to TriStar Skyline Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, where he had an MRI and emergency surgery.

“The life flight nurse found my mom,” Aiden says. “And she told her, ‘This isn’t going to make sense right now, but you have to get to Shepherd Center.’ Then everyone started telling us the same thing.”

Aiden was admitted to Shepherd Center’s Adolescent Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program and spent the next three months working toward his therapy goals among his peers.

“Everyone was so welcoming,” Aiden explains. “It’s just amazing how at Shepherd Center, people are at their absolute worst, but the atmosphere and the staff there make it the happiest place on earth. That’s what always stuck with me. I was in a bad position, but it never felt like that. The atmosphere at the gym just feels like you’re hanging out with your friends, and everyone is just getting work done. It never felt like therapy.”

Aiden’s positive mindset helped him progress, graduating from the inpatient program to Shepherd Center’s Outpatient Day Program. He moved from a power wheelchair to a manual wheelchair, and finally, during the last week in the outpatient program, he came to therapy using hand crutches.

Today, Aiden is using his experiences to help others in similar situations.

“I was a music major, and playing instruments was my life. Now, I feel like my calling is to help people and create awareness about spinal cord injuries. I’m in a unique situation since I started in a power wheelchair and can now walk, so I feel like I can give insights into each stage of recovery. I try to help people in as many ways as I can.”

Written by Lindsey Rieben

Project Rollway 2017 is scheduled for 7 to 8:30 p.m., with a cocktail hour from 6 to 7 p.m., on June 23 in Shepherd Center’s Livingston Gym. To purchase tickets or for sponsorship information go to projectrollway2017.eventbrite.com.

Project Rollway 2017 is an annual fundraising event that began in 2012 when the event raised $3,000. Since then, the benefit has raised about $15,000 per year. This funding allows for increased adolescent programming and return-to-school efforts.

Among the former patients scheduled to model in this year’s show are several patients whose stories have garnered widespread news media coverage. Those fashion-stars-in-waiting are Emily Bowman, Agnes Kim, Andee Poulos and Clark Jacobs, all from metro Atlanta.

To get involved with Project Rollway 2017 or future fashion shows, contact Shepherd Center speech-language pathologist Debra Eldred at debra_eldred@shepherd.org or 404-350-4234.

For more information on Shepherd Center’s rehabilitation programs for adolescents, visit the web pages linked below.

Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation for Adolescents

Brain Injury Rehabilitation for Adolescents

Written by Alaina Case