At Shepherd, no effort is spared in helping families through recovery. Clinical treatments can help patients make progress medically, but resources like family housing, psychological and chaplaincy services, and community outings can help families adjust to a new lifestyle, build confidence, and prepare for the future together.

In the summer issue of Spinal Column, we feature four families who've been impacted by their time at Shepherd Center — whether it was a short stop on their road to recovery or a place of continued support for navigating illness and building independence. Click the links to get to know each family, or see the story in full below.

‘An Honor to Care for Him’
Rebecca and Justin Goldman Support Their Son in the Wake of Injury

‘Lift Yourself Up’
Tachiana Ingram and Her Daughter Learn to Navigate Her Multiple Sclerosis

‘A New Man’
Marine Mark Koerner Turned to SHARE to Reconnect with His Family

‘Everything I’ve Wanted'
Megan Collins Bordon's Motherhood Journey Post-Spinal Cord Injury

Parenthood is never without challenges. But parents coming through Shepherd Center are often facing challenges they never imagined — caring for a child with a traumatic injury or navigating a lifelong diagnosis of their own. In the summer issue of Spinal Column magazine, we highlight how Shepherd Center supports patients and families, from providing family housing and support services to delivering tailor-made care to patients. The new issue is now available for download as a PDF file. Subscribers to the print version will receive copies via postal mail in the coming days.

In this issue's cover story, you'll meet five parents: caregivers to an adolescent traumatic brain injury patient, a patient from the Andrew C. Carlos Multiple Scleorsis Institute, a former spinal cord injury patient, and a client from the SHARE Military Initiative. All of them turned to Shepherd for the help they needed. This issue also features other patient and staff stories, updates from around the hospital, and information on recent fundraising and volunteer initiatives. 

Have questions or feedback about this issue? Have an idea for a future Spinal Column story? We want to hear from you! Our Spinal Column reader survey, available here, will take five minutes or less to complete and will help us make the magazine a place for Shepherd Center patients, families, employees, volunteers, and community members to shine.

Subscribe here for Shepherd Center's Spinal Column magazine print and/or e-newsletter versions.

Doctor. Leader. Listener. Mentor. Innovator. Friend.

These are just a few ways David Apple, M.D., Shepherd Center's founding medical director, is remembered by the hospital's patients and staff. Dr. Apple died on March 23, 2026, in Atlanta, surrounded by loved ones. In this issue of Spinal Column, we celebrate his life and legacy at Shepherd Center. 

From the hospital's first days of operation to its 50th anniversary celebrations last year, Dr. Apple was a cherished leader, helping to create Shepherd Center's one-of-a-kind culture. He started the hospital's recreation therapy program and research programs. And he was a dedicated physician, father, and husband, leaving an indelible mark on his community.

In addition to stories and memories of Dr. Apple, this issue includes stories of Shepherd Center patients who continue to benefit from Dr. Apple's leadership, returning home to rich and rewarding lives after injury or illness. The issue is now available for download as a PDF file, and subscribers will receive print copies via postal mail in the coming days.

Subscribe here for Shepherd Center's Spinal Column magazine print and/or e-newsletter versions.

Have questions or feedback about this issue? Have an idea for a future Spinal Column story? We want to hear from you! Write to erin.kenney@shepherd.org or call 404-350-7708 to share your thoughts.

In addition to Portraits of Hope, the winter issue marks the conclusion of Shepherd's 50th anniversary year, a staff profile about Matilda Lamar-Reed, the brain injury unit secretary behind many special visits for patients in her unit and beyond, as well as a story about Veronica Watts, a young woman turning tragedy into advocacy after being struck by a vehicle in 2024. 

Subscribe here for Shepherd Center's Spinal Column magazine print and/or e-newsletter versions.

Have questions or feedback about this issue? Have an idea for a future Spinal Column story? We want to hear from you! Write to erin.kenney@shepherd.org or call 404-350-7708 to share your thoughts.

Music bumping, dozens of artists — photographers, production assistants, hair and make-up specialists — zipping across the floor, camera flashes bouncing off 12-foot backdrops. The blank space, it turns out, is the perfect setting for a photoshoot. 

The 10th floor was home base for Portraits of Hope, a photo project spearheaded by producer Sarah Howell and photographer Stephanie Eley, known as Eley. Portraits of Hope celebrates the courage, resilience, and individuality of Shepherd Center patients. Hospital staff nominated patients from across treatment programs, who were then invited, along with their families, friends, and Shepherd staff members, to take part in a professional photoshoot, complete with hair and makeup, personalized playlists and photo sessions, and an opportunity to share their stories. 

For Sarah, a patient in Shepherd’s Andrew C. Carlos Multiple Sclerosis Institute, creating the portraits was her way of giving back. 

“Some patients come back and volunteer, some do advocacy work, some raise money,” she says. “What I know how to do is organize photo shoots.” 

Sarah met Eley at an American Photographic Artists (APA) Atlanta event, where Eley mentioned taking photos at Shepherd Center. Sarah told her about her idea for Portraits of Hope, they shared it with Chris Walker, Shepherd's director of digital strategy and marketing, and from there, the idea took on a life of its own.

In addition to spotlighting the resilience and tenacity of Shepherd Center patients, the project presented emerging photographers in the Atlanta area with an opportunity to hone their skills. 

“We focused on emerging photographers, so people at the beginnings of their careers — primarily women and people of color who don’t always get opportunities of this scale early in their journey — and they’ve been incredible,” Sarah says. 

The project culminated in a gallery opening in July, where the photographers, patients, their families, Shepherd staff members, and other community members got to see the portraits on display at the Marcus Center for Advanced Rehabilitation. Since then, the portraits have traveled to the Atlanta History Center for the hospital’s 50th anniversary celebration, and in fall 2026, the portraits will be on display for three months at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where 26 million travelers are expected to pass through. 

“I’m hoping that the takeaway from individuals seeing the final project is a space where we are celebrating one another,” Eley says.

To see the photos, read additional patient stories, learn more about the featured photographers, and see behind-the-scenes footage, visit shepherd.org/portraits-of-hope.
 

The piece — a blue-green heart forming out of a rocky foundation, with doves flying in and around it — stands proudly in The Home Depot Foundation Courtyard at Shepherd Center. Mike created it with the hope that it could inspire the hospital’s staff, patients, and their families, the way he was inspired when Shepherd Center co-founder, Alana Shepherd, led him on a tour of the hospital. 

Alana first met Mike at a funeral for a mutual friend, Carl Allen, a longtime supporter of Shepherd Center. Mike had crafted a bust of Carl that was on display at the service, and, impressed by his skill, Alana asked him to design a sculpture for Shepherd Center. She invited him for a tour of the hospital, which he says was hugely impactful.

“My wife and I were very emotional through the whole experience, because of the great work they do for some of these folks that are struggling,” he says. “[The patients] were so inspiring, because they were trying so hard. They had the fight within them.” 

Mike got to work on planning for the sculpture when a suggestion from Carl’s wife, fellow Shepherd Center advocate and board of trustees member, Elizabeth Allen, helped him determine the defining element of the piece. 

“Elizabeth said, ‘Mike, if there’s anything you can do with a heart, it would be awesome, because when Alana signs her name, she always draws a little heart,’” he remembers. “So, once she said that to me, it hit me immediately what I wanted to do.” 

Elizabeth’s heart idea wasn’t her only contribution to the sculpture project. She, along with her children and grandchildren, generously gifted the sculpture to Shepherd Center in honor of Carl. His legacy will live on through the sculpture, which will instill hope in countless future patients and visitors. 

On March 25, 2025, the sculpture was installed in the courtyard, with the help of a crane to lift it into place. Mike was able to join for the installation. 

“The foundry I use is in Loveland, Colorado, and they’re called Art Castings of Colorado ... they had it shipped to Shepherd Center,” he recalls. “We were there for the whole [installation] day, and it was an amazing install because of a lot of local folks that were helping. It went like clockwork... there are so many hands that touched that sculpture to give it its life.” 

He hopes the sculpture will honor staff and encourage patients during their recovery journey. 

“It’s one of my favorite pieces,” he says. “It represents the patients, the doctors, and the therapists going in and out of the hospital. Especially with families going through such a hard time, [this piece is] to give them some hope.”

Written by Erin Kenney

The magazine highlights the care team that supported hockey player Jackson Drum throughout his inpatient spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation at Shepherd Center. Jackson, who is originally from Minnesota, sustained an SCI in a hockey game early this year.

The magazine also features stories about William Davidson, Shepherd’s director of engineering, Jonathan Horna, a Shepherd Smash wheelchair rugby athlete, recaps of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution Peachtree Road Race and Project Rollway, and an explainer on Shepherd Center’s spooky season traditions, just in time for Halloween.

Subscribe here for Shepherd Center's Spinal Column magazine print and/or e-newsletter versions.

The magazine highlights the Hulse Spinal Cord Injury Research Lab, as well as the new James M. Cox Innovation Institute.

This issue also features these stories, among other patient profiles, anniversary stories, honorariums, and memorials:

• Shepherd & The Peachtree: 40+ Years of Hope & Inclusion
• Going Beyond: Q&A With Exercise Physiologist Corey Gainey
• A Hero's Journey: Jacob Kennedy's Story of Strength, Support, and Starting Again

 Subscribe here for Shepherd Center's Spinal Column magazine print and/or e-newsletter versions.

“When they started talking about discharge, I got really frantic, like, ‘What do I do now? I'm not moving,” she remembers. “It was kind of a frantic time, but we tried to absorb everything they told us and taught us.”
 

Before discharge from Shepherd, she began to feel sensation in her lower back, prompting doctors to change her diagnosis from complete to incomplete SCI and opening a new world of possibilities for her recovery.

Once she was back home, she and her husband continued her physical therapy program while they worked through delays in finding a home care agency. They referred to handouts and flyers her therapists gave her before she left Shepherd. Over time, they started noticing progress. Robbyn had returned to Shepherd for the Spinal Cord Injury Day Program when she heard about a research opportunity in the Hulse Spinal Cord Injury Research Lab. The study aimed to reduce muscle spasticity through transcutaneous spinal stimulation (TSS).

Even though the study wasn’t aimed at improving motor function, after participating, Robbyn noticed changes in her ability to move. She heard about a study led by Shepherd’s SCI Research team, where TSS was used over the neck area to boost the effects of training with the goal of improving hand function. She brought a stimulator she’d been using at home to the SCI research team, where lab director Edelle Field-Fote, PT, Ph.D., FAPTA, FASIA, and the other research scientists adjusted the settings so the device could be used for TSS. Now, she uses the stimulator at home as part of her routine physical therapy practice.

“She’s really been a champion of translating the work that we're doing, not only from the lab to her home, but also from the spasticity study that she participated in to her home program for motor function,” Dr. Field-Fote says.

Robbyn says TSS has been a game-changer. It’s helped her build strength in several muscle groups, and it’s especially exciting because even her therapists who don’t know she’s using TSS are seeing the changes. 

“[Sometimes my therapists] will go, ‘Hey, we’re noticing a little more strength in this arm, what’s going on?’ and we laugh,” she says. “It’s great because they’re noticing the effects of the TSS and the exercise that goes along with it.’”

Electrical stimulation is nothing new, but the Hulse Lab has pioneered its application for TSS. The SCI research team is continuously finding new ways to use it to help people with spinal cord injuries, from reducing spasticity to improving motor function in the hands, to magnifying the effects of locomotor training for improved walking function.

Turning on the Stove: TSS & Neuromodulation

Dr. Field-Fote is an expert in spinal cord injuries. Her career weaves throughout all kinds of research in that field — from her Ph.D. thesis on turtles with complete SCIs to her work at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, a world-renowned research center. At the Miami Project, she worked alongside both basic and applied scientists — basic meaning foundational scientific research, like doing experiments with animal models or cells in a dish. She frequently reviews grant proposals and papers on the basic science of SCIs, and she’s received numerous distinctions for her work in the field.

In short, she knows a lot about spinal cord injuries. And she says that right now, despite all the attention the media gives to high-tech approaches, rehabilitation is key to helping people with SCIs regain function after injury.

“The research evidence shows that right now rehabilitation is the best approach we have for improving function in people with spinal cord injury,” Dr. Field-Fote says. “And when I say rehabilitation, I mean practice and training. The focus of my lab has acknowledged that physical and occupational therapy are the best ways to promote neuroplasticity.”

That’s why, as director of the Hulse Lab, Dr. Field-Fote has focused research efforts on how tools like TSS and other forms of neuromodulation can improve physical and occupational therapy outcomes. By applying stimulation to the spinal cord or the brain, the SCI researchers in the lab make the nervous system more receptive to therapy.

“These tools change the nervous system, but you still have to tell the nervous system what you want it to change,” Dr. Field-Fote says. “Think of a stove that has four burners. If you turn the stove on, it will heat up, but there’s no usefulness to it until you put a pot on the stove with the soup. Stimulation provides the system with energy, but it’s the training that tells the nervous system what to do with that energy.”

In addition to improving hand and walking function when combined with training, TSS can also help reduce spasticity — another focus for the Hulse Lab. The lab’s scientists also determine best practices, such as where to place the electrodes and whether to use the stimulation in bursts or as a continuous pulse.

“If you think about a spinal cord that is damaged, the signals are still coming down from the brain, but information is not making it out to the muscles,” Dr. Field-Fote says. “It's like a hose that has holes in it, and you might not be able to do anything about the holes in the hose, but if you turn up the spigot, more of it's going to get to the end.”

‘Ready to Find a Breakthrough’

Of course, none of the lab’s research would be possible without help from research participants. For research scientists Anastasia Zarkou, PT, MS, Ph.D., and Jennifer Iddings, Ph.D., their groundbreaking work in noninvasive brain stimulation to improve hand function in people with SCIs finds its true purpose in patient interactions.

“We love working with participants. It’s probably our favorite part of the job,” Dr. Iddings says. “Research seems to attract a very specific type of person who wants to benefit the spinal cord injury community in some way. They’ll say, ‘It doesn’t matter if it helps me, as long as we get knowledge out of it.’”

Research participant Hannah Johnston is one example of someone embracing this philosophy. Hannah’s experience with research is intertwined with her recovery journey — she started a clinical drug trial while in the hospital following an accident with an 18-wheeler. She sustained a C3-C4 level SCI and was taken to the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Once her condition stabilized, she transferred to Shepherd Center for rehabilitation, where she continued the drug trial and later participated in other studies.

“I've been the research girl for quite some time — for the entire length of my spinal cord injury, I've been participating in research of some sort,” she says.

Hannah has many reasons for participating in research. For starters, she says Shepherd Center is her home away from home. After her inpatient therapy, she went straight into the Spinal Cord Injury Day Program and later returned for another round of Day Program and Beyond Therapy.

"You don’t look the same as you used to, or you don’t feel the same, and your body’s definitely not the same, but there’s no judgment,” she says. “You’re just loved and appreciated and respected at the same time. I can’t imagine being anywhere else and being able to receive the same treatment.”

While continuing outpatient therapy, Hannah got involved with the Hulse Lab’s spasticity study, funded by a research grant from the National Institutes of Health, and also with a motor skill training study funded by the SCI Model Systems grant. She says working with research staff members like Drs. Zarkou and Iddings makes participating in research all the better.

“They’re just so eager. You know, a lot of people go to work and do their job and do the bare minimum,” she says. “But you don’t get that here, and you definitely don’t get that with research. They’re happy to be here, but they’re also ready to find something to help somebody — to find a new breakthrough.”

Hannah did experience some breakthroughs because of the research. For the spasticity study, she wore sensors on her body that connected to a computer monitor, showing her which muscles she was activating. She says she could see where she was overcompensating and where she wasn’t fully activating certain muscle groups. As a result, she learned how to better isolate certain muscles. Hannah also says she continues to visit with Drs. Iddings and Zarkou when she’s at the hospital, jokingly adding that she and Dr. Zarkou “are like best friends.” 

It’s not uncommon for research participants to feel this way — Drs. Iddings and Zarkou make it a point to build relationships with patients who might be interested in research starting when they’re inpatients. 

“We never want someone to be interested in research and verbalize this to someone and not meet one of us,” Dr. Zarkou says. “Even if they aren’t eligible for one of our research projects, we are more than happy to guide them through resources and other opportunities that are out there for them.”

“[They’re] more than a participant to us. We are there for them,” Dr. Zarkou says. “We want them to feel comfortable reaching out to us because that’s what establishes this relationship.”

Building a Better Study

Scientists in the Hulse Lab rely on participants to complete their studies, and they also need participants’ feedback to create better clinical trials. Dr. Zarkou says she often returns to participants after a study to learn what went well and what could’ve gone better. She says a participant’s perspective is equally important when working on proposals for new studies. Some grant funding even requires including participant perspectives in proposals, something scientists in the Hulse Lab are proponents of. 

“We might have the best idea in the world, right?” Dr. Zarkou says. “But I’m not the person who lives with spinal cord injury, so [we have] our participants come and say, ‘Yeah, that seems like a good idea, but what are you going to do about this?’”

For example, participants might flag that a clinical trial requires too many research sessions or that each session is too long. Participants living outside Atlanta may have to fight traffic just to make it in time for a research session — a concern that has eased slightly with the expansion of housing at Shepherd, which can sometimes accommodate an out-of-town participant to stay in the Irene and George Woodruff Family Residence Center, Dr. Iddings says. 

The lab prioritizes participants’ needs — from making the research process accessible to addressing problems for people living with SCIs. 

Although the research team can never promise a beneficial outcome to participants — the purpose of research is to test out new ideas, after all — this is no turnoff for Robbyn and Hannah. They say even if they hadn’t personally benefited from the research, they’d do it all over to help someone else down the line. 

“I already had my foot in the door with research when I got here, and of course, I was willing and ready to participate,” Hannah says. “But some people seem uninterested or hesitant, and I’ve been trying to encourage people to get involved or ask if there’s a good fit for them. It’s not going to hurt you in any way; it would only help you, or at least help somebody else in the future.” 

Robbyn shares this sentiment, adding that she encouraged a friend who had a stroke to look into brain injury research at Shepherd. 

“I am definitely an advocate of ‘You’ll never know until you try,’” she says. “Even if it doesn’t help me feel something, someone else could really benefit. They could get more data so they could see where they could help others.” 

At Shepherd, there are ongoing clinical trials in the Hulse Lab and other research areas throughout the hospital, including brain injury, multiple sclerosis, and accessibility and user research. To learn more about opportunities or how to get involved, you can visit shepherd.org/research. 

Written by Erin Kenney

 In this celebratory issue, we look back at special moments over the last 50 years, while looking ahead to a promising future. Stories in this issue celebrate hardworking staff, resilient patients, and generous donors who help make Shepherd’s work possible.

 The magazine also features these stories, among other patient profiles, anniversary stories, honorariums, and memorials:

Secrets of the Secret Garden
Treasure Trove of Memories
So Many Ways to Give

 Subscribe here for Shepherd Center's Spinal Column magazine print and/or e-newsletter versions.

That’s the year Shepherd Center’s 50th anniversary time capsule, scheduled to be buried this August, the month of Shepherd’s founding, will be opened again. And there’s a lot of work going into making sure the time capsule tells the Shepherd story and stands the test of time. 

To determine what’s going in the time capsule, Mays and Harris have been digging through Shepherd’s archives, gathering items like old blueprints, Spinal Column magazines, and photographs. They’re also preparing new materials, like quotes from staff and video interviews with hospital co-founders Alana Shepherd and David Apple, M.D. 

“[Working on the time capsule] grabbed my attention because I like that kind of thing,” says Mays, the office manager for Shepherd’s marketing team. “I like looking back at older items, and I thought it would be good to try to save some memories or create some memories to play back later.” 

In addition to figuring out what to include in the time capsule, Mays and Harris are also making sure items in the capsule are preserved for the next 50 years and accessible to Shepherd’s next generation. “We have these video messages that we could put on a jump drive, but in 50 years, will people still be using the same technology? We’re thinking about how people in the future will use the things we include,” Harris says. 

Shepherd Center’s 50th anniversary time capsule will be buried in the Home Depot Courtyard outside the Marcus Center for Advanced Rehabilitation during anniversary week celebrations in August. To stay up to date on all of Shepherd Center’s anniversary celebrations, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/shepherdcenter. 

By Erin Kenney

This story first appeared in the special 50th anniversary issue of Spinal Column magazine.

And even for staff, patients, and visitors who frequent the garden, every day it presents something new. The garden has also been a backdrop for milestones, like birthday and anniversary celebrations, an adolescent prom, engagements, and weddings. 

During COVID-19, the garden became a special place for friends and extended family checking in on Shepherd patients — visitors could stand along Peachtree Road and chat with patients through the garden gate, allowing people to maintain connection to friends and family without compromising health and safety. It’s no wonder that for many people who pass through Shepherd Center’s doors, the Secret Garden becomes a favorite spot. With its beautiful landscaping and artistic displays, there’s a lot to discover. 

Enjoying Natural Beauty 

Despite being just yards away from one of Atlanta’s busiest roads, the Secret Garden can feel like a private nature preserve. Vibrant orange koi fish swim in a small pond. Birds flit around the lawn and treetops overhead. And raised garden beds, teeming with flowers, fresh herbs, and vegetables, give the garden a dose of bright color. 

The garden’s beauty isn’t the work of one landscape architect or gardener. It’s a patchwork of donated artwork and outdoor furniture, landscaped shrubs and flowers, and raised garden beds tended to by horticulture therapy participants. The initial garden was designed by Shepherd’s landscaping committee, chaired by Dottie Fuqua, in 1982. Over time, other features have been added — Ten Atlanta garden clubs have funded parts of the garden and continue to support the horticulture therapy program with annual grants. Former patient Peter Dames made a donation to build the koi pond. Physician Gerald Bilsky, M.D., alongside his son Marc, who has a deep passion for gardening, donated raised beds for horticulture therapy. 

Many of the plants in the Secret Garden are cared for by patients participating in the Ruth and Talmadge Dobbs, Jr. Horticulture Therapy Program, which was named to honor the memory of Ruth Dobbs McDonald and her family's longstanding and generous support of Shepherd Center. Adaptive gardening helps patients meet their therapy goals, such as fine and gross motor skills, core strength, range of motion, and cognitive goals. But for many patients, it also gives them a sense of purpose and normalcy after a life-changing injury or illness. The garden’s impact stretches beyond Shepherd Center — philanthropist and lifelong gardener Deen Day Sanders commissioned a video of the garden’s use for patients in other facilities.

Memorials, Sculptures, and Art 

In the colder months, when the flowers aren’t blooming, and the horticulture therapy beds are quiet, other parts of the garden — including memorials and art installations — take the spotlight.  

In one corner of the garden, a stone wall creates a tranquil, private place for reflection. The sculpture, designed by Donna Pickens, was commissioned in memory of Charles “Kib” Kibler Browning, Jr. by his family. A talented musician, Kib died due to complications of scoliosis. The sculpture was hand built by Kib's stepfather Bob Goodsell and pays tribute to Kib’s musical legacy in several ways — the sculpture itself bears the name of Kib’s band, The Wishing Wall. And in the center of the wall, a plaque includes lyrics from one of Kib’s songs and encourages visitors to leave their hopes and prayers in a metal slot, creating a spiritual space for meditation and prayer. 

Other sculptures in the Secret Garden also enhance the landscape. “Water of Life” and “With Compassion He Listens to All” — both modern figure sculptures — add to the serene and contemplative atmosphere. Metal figures and seasonal decor in the garden beds, as well as a fairy-sized tiny door from Tiny Doors ATL, create a sense of wonder. 

Perhaps the most eye-catching part of the garden, particularly for passersby on Peachtree Road, is the Secret Garden gate. The gate was dedicated to Shepherd staff by the husband of a former patient. But it was more than a generous gift to the hospital — it was an anniversary present. 

Eric Busko and his wife, Mary Busko, spent many hours in the Secret Garden during Mary’s stroke rehabilitation in 2021. Mary loved the outdoors, and Eric had a history of commissioning anniversary gifts for her from Andrew Crawford of Andrew T. Crawford Ironworks. The garden gate idea seemed like the perfect way to tie together their interests while celebrating the Shepherd staff members who helped Mary during her recovery. Sadly, Mary passed away due to stroke complications before the gate was finished. Now, it stands as a loving memorial to her while celebrating the love and compassion of Shepherd staff members. 

In addition to the Secret Garden, the Hazel Family Garden at the Arthur M. Blank Family Residences will serve families for years to come, and new green spaces surrounding the Marcus Center for Advanced Rehabilitation will give patients and staff a new close-by option for outdoor therapy sessions and lunch breaks. As Shepherd’s campus changes and grows, giving all visitors access to the outdoors remains a priority, and between all the gardens and greenspaces, there’s something for everyone.

By Erin Kenney

This story first appeared in the special 50th anniversary issue of Spinal Column magazine.

But then Rojean saw how it benefitted him, and she changed her mind. Now she says that SHARE changed her life. 

In 2008, just months after joining the army, Rojean was injured when the butt stock of an M-16 rifle hit her in the face, causing a fracture in her orbital floor and skull. She underwent facial reconstructive surgery and jaw surgery. 

She says the injury kept her in “limbo,” with chronic memory and balance issues, necessitating a transfer to a unit where the duties were lighter. She tried treatments and programs to improve her physical and mental health, but she saw no progress. 

When she retired in 2012, things went from bad to worse. She experienced severe mood swings, bouts of anger, memory issues, feelings of isolation, and suicidal ideations. She was unable to work. 

“I was not in a good place,” Rojean remembers. “It affected my relationships with my friends and my family. I needed help.” 

When Rojean came to SHARE in 2015, she was impressed by the staff’s compassion. 

“You are surrounded by people who care about you,” she says. “But they also push and motivate you to pursue your hopes and dreams.” 

Rojean’s hope was to become a nurse. She’d tried school after her injury but couldn’t keep up with the classes. At SHARE, she focused on her physical health and learned to regulate her moods, establish boundaries, and advocate for herself. She also participated in recreation therapy. She believes this work set her up for success. 

“Shepherd helped me become an unstoppable version of myself,” Rojean says. With newfound confidence, she returned to college, earning two associate degrees and a bachelor’s degree while holding several leadership and volunteer positions while in school. She eventually enrolled in Emory University’s accelerated nursing program and graduated in May 2024. 

Now, Rojean works as a medical-surgical nurse at Emory University Hospital and is inspired to help people like the Shepherd Center staff helped her. 

“I am more mentally and physically sound and in such a better place,” she says. “SHARE is an amazing program. I want to impact people in my work like those at Shepherd impacted me.” 

By Sara Baxter

This story first appeared in the special 50th anniversary issue of Spinal Column magazine.

“Heart disease is the leading cause of death among Black men, and 60% of Black men have some form of cardiovascular disease,” Jason says. “Running is a great way to improve heart health and develop camaraderie with fellow runners. My father never had anyone to run with who looked like him when he was growing up in Memphis, Tennessee. I wanted to create an organization where Black men could train together but also have an avenue to fellowship.” 

In 2013, Jason and Edward Walton started Black Men Run, a nonprofit that encourages health and wellness among Black men. 

“The camaraderie feels good. You can see it in the guys’ faces,” Jason says. “It just lights you up and keeps you motivated." 

In 2017, Jason had first-hand experience with the statistics he was so familiar with. While sitting at his office desk in Atlanta, he had a stroke and a ruptured brain aneurysm. Luckily, his co-workers acted quickly, and he was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital. 

Jason came to Shepherd Center’s Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program in early 2018 as an inpatient and later graduated to the outpatient program, Shepherd Pathways. 

“My experience at Shepherd was amazing, and I still remember the faces of my care staff because they helped me walk, talk, and run again. What surprised me most was how accommodating and patient they were with me throughout my time there,” Jason says. “Running is my passion. Getting back to that was so important to me,” 

Since returning home, Jason has made steady strides toward his goals. While he still experiences some speech impediments and a stutter as a result of the stroke, he hasn’t let that stop him from spreading the message about Black Men Run, which has now grown to 10,000 members globally. 

Last year, he ran his first 10K race since his stroke, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race, which happens to pass by Shepherd Center. 

“To run past Shepherd Center made the accomplishment more impactful for me and I was overwhelmed with emotion,” Jason says. 

Looking ahead, Jason hopes to run a half marathon in 2025 and continue to grow his nonprofit. He leaves this message to fellow stroke survivors: “Be a shining example in your community because the term ‘survivor’ is very significant. It's up to us to uphold that you can recover and never give up. 

“I hope to be an inspiration to others who might have fallen, thinking that they can never get back up again. They can think, ‘If Jason Russell can do it, so can I!’" 

By Damjana Alverson

This story first appeared in the special 50th anniversary issue of Spinal Column magazine.

This would be a feat for anyone, but it was especially significant for Allison, who just 15 months earlier — on Aug. 22, 2023 — sustained a traumatic brain injury in a car crash. 

Allison was taken to Augusta University Medical Center’s trauma unit. She was unconscious for 15 days with an uncertain prognosis. 

“We had to pray for her to wake up,” her mother, Monica, says. 

When she did wake up, Allison could not walk and had short-term memory issues. Three weeks after her accident, she transferred to Shepherd Center for rehabilitation. Doctors told Monica and her husband, Josh, that their daughter’s memory might not return. With additional balance and vision issues, it was also uncertain if Allison, a member of her high school’s cross-country team and an accomplished pianist, could return to the activities she loved. 

Allison eliminated any doubts. 

At Shepherd Center, she re-learned to walk, dress, and feed herself and regained her balance and memory. As she improved, she started running and playing the piano again. She was at Shepherd Center for six weeks and spent another six weeks at Shepherd Pathways, a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation program for people recovering from brain injury. 

Just a few months after her injury, Allison completed a 5K race with her mother and played a Christmas concert at The Jabez Hardin Auditorium in Evans, Georgia. She returned to school that January. “She was back to where she was before her injury,” Monica says. “It was nothing short of a miracle.” 

Allison had another goal in mind: running the 2024 half marathon — by herself — and without stopping. 

“I was so happy when I finished,” Allison remembers. “I beat the time I set for myself by 20 minutes.” 

Allison, a junior in high school, hopes to attend the University of Georgia. Inspired by her time at Shepherd Center, she is planning a career in the medical field so she can help those with brain injuries the way people helped her. 

“Shepherd Center is a great community,” Allison says. “They are so supportive and encouraging and helped me get better. I would like to do that for others.” 

By Sara Baxter

This story first appeared in the special 50th anniversary issue of Spinal Column magazine.

“Being a materialistic person at a young age, I always thought, ‘Well, I'm not giving my stuff away!’” Clint laughs. “What my dad really meant was you’ll always feel fulfilled if you give to others. If you're someone like me who has lived with a spinal cord injury for 36 years, you need to tell someone who’s new to spinal cord injury how you got to where you are today. When I do that, it comes back to me ten-fold.”

That spirit of giving back to the spinal cord injury (SCI) community has shaped Clint’s life, and it all began on the evening of April 8, 1988.

“It was a normal day. I went to work, came home, washed my car. I was 20 years old and unfortunately decided to do the wrong thing. I had been out drinking at the pool hall and decided to race a buddy of mine in my new Trans Am.”

Clint went around a curve too fast and lost control of the car. Because he was not wearing a seatbelt, he was ejected on impact. The car continued to flip and landed on top of him, wrapping him between the front tire and engine, resulting in severe burns on his back and an incomplete C-5 SCI.

After three months in the ICU, Clint transferred to Shepherd Center. He received a skin graft at Piedmont Hospital to replace the burnt skin on his back. Once he was cleared medically, he began his rehabilitation journey in Shepherd’s Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program.

“My first memory of Shepherd was how excited and happy everybody was,” Clint says. “You are dealing with a traumatic injury, and I was amazed at how positive and professional my care was.”

 After a day of physical and occupational therapy, Clint was surprised when a Shepherd staff member he hadn’t met came to his room.  

“An employee around my age with an SCI comes in after he already finished his day at work to talk about life after SCI,” Clint explains. “I looked up to him as a mentor. I felt so fortunate that this guy spent his own time just to tell me that it was going to be okay. There would be life after this.”

Clint had the opportunity to plan what life after SCI would look like with his vocational rehabilitation therapist.

“Vocational rehabilitation was life-changing,” Clint says. “The therapist helped me focus on what I was able to do today and what would make me happy.”

Clint shared that he loved music and wouldn’t mind working in the music industry but didn’t know how he would realistically be able to attend college.

“College was never a thing for me – I didn’t think I could pay for it, and I thought learning a trade was my destiny just like my father, his father, and down the line,” Clint says. “My vocational rehab therapist showed me how the state of Georgia could help me pay for school, and I said, ‘Where do I sign up?’”

Clint discharged from Shepherd in October 1988 and started college at the Atlanta Art Institute in March 1989. He obtained his associate degree in two years and began working at his dream job doing music production and research at local Atlanta radio station, 96 Rock. He now works in the medical sales industry but looks back fondly on the experience and confidence he gained in his first job after sustaining his injury.

Clint has lived a rich life since that fateful car crash. He started the first wheelchair rugby team on the East Coast at Shepherd Center, now known as the Shepherd Smash, and played on the team until 1996. He served as president of the United Spinal Association of Georgia for three years. In 2017, he even founded a nonprofit called Spinal Cord Injury USA that helps connect people with SCI to talk about all aspects of living with SCI online and during in-person events. The group started with Clint posing questions to a Facebook group to get discussions going. It has taken on a life of its own, growing to nearly 15,000 members.

Above all, Clint’s focus has been to “live happy,” and encouraging others to do the same remains his passion.

“I’ll never stop being involved in the SCI community. When you help someone, you gain so much personally, too,” Clint says. “For the newly injured or anyone who may be struggling with their situation, I just want to say, ‘Don’t wait until tomorrow to start living. Start today.’”

By Damjana Alverson

This story first appeared in the special 50th anniversary issue of Spinal Column magazine.

An inspiration for this approach is rooted in the creation of Beyond Therapy®, a rigorous, activity-based program designed in the early 2000s to help people with neurological disorders improve their lifelong health, minimize secondary complications, and get the most from any new neural links to their muscles and other organs, like the bladder. The concept was radical at the time. Activity-based therapy was still an emerging field; most rehabilitation hospitals at the time didn’t offer it. That’s because, back then, the prevailing opinion in the field was that the brain and nervous system simply couldn’t regenerate — couldn’t re-learn or adapt — after an SCI, stroke or traumatic brain injury. Shepherd Center, however, believed otherwise. 

Its researchers and medical staff also made a commitment to ensure Beyond Therapy® would never be a static program. Instead, Shepherd Center would constantly apply evolving evidence — and generate new evidence through its own work — that could lead to better outcomes. Implementing this strategy required another novel idea: Everyone would work collaboratively — researchers, clinicians, patients, families — to consider all needs and all perspectives. 

“That’s become a hugely successful model for us,” says Deborah Backus, PT, Ph.D., FACRM, Shepherd Center’s vice president of research and innovation. “It’s a model based on engaging all stakeholders from the very start and working together to identify meaningful problems and come up with collaborative solutions.” 

Soon, Shepherd’s research and innovation efforts will have a new home inside the Marcus Center for Advanced Rehabilitation (MCAR), which is scheduled to open this spring. The 30,000-square-foot James M. Cox Foundation Innovation Institute, located inside MCAR, will cement Shepherd’s reputation for cutting-edge research and unparalleled clinical care. It will also allow for greater collaboration, bringing existing research and technology teams from throughout the hospital into one space. 

“This is really exciting, especially the additional capabilities and resources for everyone working together,” Dr. Backus says, “from researchers and clinicians to patients and families, and industry and academic partners.” 

Three new spaces will be added to the Innovation Institute, too, including a state-of-the-art Human Performance Lab to help Shepherd Center develop precise, data-informed rehab plans for each patient. The Innovation Institute will also house a new tech showroom that connects patients directly with product developers — allowing people with disabilities to test new technologies and smart home solutions before buying them. Finally, a Best Health Suite will enable staff to offer live and on-demand wellness and fitness classes to patients, partners, and the broader public. Shepherd Center will also begin testing “smart home”-style inpatient rooms that will give patients greater control, comfort, and independence. That effort includes Shepherd’s Access Technology team, whose broader services — including adaptive devices and assistive technologies to help people safely and more independently return to home, work, and school — are open to all, not just Shepherd Center patients. 

Any technological advancement, of course, is only as good as the people it’s paired with. Thankfully, the human element — the hope element — isn’t going anywhere after 50 years at Shepherd Center. “Shepherd Center is so good at taking a holistic look at things,” Dr. Backus says, “and keeping the patient at the center of everything. When we say we’ve integrated research into clinical practice, we truly have. It’s a total team effort. It’s never effortless, and there are always new challenges. But being able to do that is what helps us come up with novel solutions for our patients. “It’s been so fun to be part of this through the years and to see how far we’ve come. The outcomes are so rewarding. I can’t wait to see what’s ahead.” 

By Phillip Jordan

This story first appeared in the special 50th anniversary issue of Spinal Column magazine.

Joycelyn Saxon, director of food services, says it’s easy to center the patient in a setting like Shepherd Center. 

“You really get to know patients, their stories, their families, and their rehab,” she says. “We meet with patients directly. We know this is home for you for a while, so we want to make things as comfortable and helpful for you as possible.” 

Saxon has 40 years of experience in food service, with more than half of that in a healthcare environment. Her team’s goal at Shepherd Center is to work with each patient, in coordination with their care team and family, to meet their nutritional needs. But Saxon wants to go beyond that — for each food services team member to be another warm, personal contact supporting patients during their rehabilitation journeys. It’s an approach, she says, that’s nurtured here. “You walk into Shepherd Center and it’s a culture of passion and warmth and family,” Saxon says. “And that includes every team, including food services. I walked into a team here that loved being part of Shepherd Center. Everybody matters, everybody has a voice. Everybody is a huge part of our patient experience. And that makes it easy to keep improving when everyone is invited to bring new concepts and new ideas.” 

Chaplain Dave Wethington, MA, BCC, has seen evidence of this person-centered care from both sides of the equation. When he had a brain injury and was a patient at Shepherd Center in 2012, he could feel hope sliding away early in his recovery. Then, he met Chaplain Alan Roof. 

“He sat and helped me find hope again,” Wethington recalls. “It wasn’t, ‘let’s open up our Bibles.’ It was ‘let’s find your purpose now.’” 

Wethington often applies that lesson now that he’s become a chaplain at Shepherd Center, helping others work through their own fears and doubts. He’s especially thankful for the chance to do so in working with military veterans and active-duty clients through the SHARE Military Initiative. 

“That’s been one of the unexpected blessings for me, helping these veterans and soldiers navigate not just their injuries, but also reconnect with their faith when they might have given up on it,” Wethington says. “Sometimes they need help processing what they have to live with from their service. It’s an honor to help them find healing and forgiveness and move forward.” 

Wethington is one of many former patients who have found their way back to Shepherd Center to serve in staff positions. And while the wisdom and empathy of former patients can be found in all areas of Shepherd’s work, they are most acutely felt in peer support. The program offers opportunities for current patients and caregivers to connect with, and learn from, a community of former patients and caregivers. 

Minna Hong’s patient experience stems from an SCI she sustained in a car crash in 1999. The accident didn’t just affect her physically; it widowed her at 35, and she became a single mother navigating life with paraplegia and two young children. When she thinks back on her rehabilitation, she considers it a time of grief, yes, but also of rebirth. 

“Shepherd Center showed me the way forward,” she says. “Did they solve all my problems? No, I’d be lying if I said that. But they helped me learn how to use the tools, to work things out myself. For that, I will always be grateful to Shepherd Center, and that’s what I’ve attempted to give back.” 

For 18 years, Hong worked as a peer support manager, helping to expand the program and centering it, always, in the perspective of the patients and their families. She was instrumental in creating an evidence-based program that proved its value — research that changed how many rehabilitation hospitals view peer support. For her efforts, the Georgia Hospital Association awarded her the Georgia Hospital Hero Award. 

“Peer supporters give patients a preview of what they could potentially be once they get beyond Shepherd Center,” Hong says. “Seeing is believing. You can’t unsee what you’ve seen at Shepherd Center! So, you can give that hope. But it’s not always easy. So, being raw and open and honest with people during your time together — there’s power in being truthful, too.”

Hong retired in 2018 to pursue her twin passions of being a disability advocate and creating art. Her experiences at Shepherd Center and her relationships with patients still inform much of what she does. “What’s important to remember is that it’s not really about learning to walk or move again,” Hong cautions. “What it’s really about is learning how to navigate this entirely new way of being. Of how you see yourself. How others see you. It’s like immigrating to another country because it’s a whole other language you learn to speak. And you only really get it if you go through it. “So, if we’re truly living the motto of disability rights — Nothing About Us Without Us — peer input and peer support has to thrive, everywhere.” 

By Phillip Jordan

This story first appeared in the special 50th anniversary issue of Spinal Column magazine.

There are many ways to measure Shepherd Center’s success at the 50-year mark. For instance, you could look at Shepherd Center’s 90%+ “return to home” rate that’s far beyond the national average of 75%. Or, perhaps, consider that 95% of inpatients would recommend Shepherd Center to others. But numbers don’t fully capture Shepherd Center’s story. There are real people behind these statistics — people who are returning to lives of meaning and greater independence. And more than the numbers, Shepherd patients tell the hospital’s story. They tell stories about doctors, therapists, and nurses who went above and beyond in their care. About an outing that opened their eyes to new possibilities. About a chaplain who lifted their spirits, a new sport that renewed their passions, or a piece of assistive tech that made returning to school, work, or just life in general, that much easier. This is a story 50 years in the making. A story that started with one family who saw a need and made it their mission to fill it. 

The idea for Shepherd Center began as soon as James Shepherd finished his rehabilitation from a spinal cord injury (SCI) he sustained in 1973. James and his parents, Alana and Harold Shepherd, had to travel from Atlanta to Craig Hospital in Denver so that James could receive the specialized care he needed.

After months of hospitalizations and rehabilitation, incredibly, James walked out of Craig using only a leg brace and a crutch. His extraordinary recovery got the Shepherds wondering why their son and others with SCIs had to travel across the country for high-quality rehabilitation. Why didn’t Atlanta have a catastrophic care hospital that could serve people across the Southeast?

“We all said, ‘Somebody ought to start a hospital here,’” Alana has often recalled. “Well, it turns out that somebody was us.” 

On Aug. 18, 1975, nearly two years after James’ accident, Shepherd Spinal Center opened its doors, leasing unused space from a northwest Atlanta hospital. David Apple Jr., M.D., served as the medical director. Orthopedist Herndon Murray, M.D., plus a trio of therapists and nursing help from the leasing hospital, rounded out Shepherd’s first staff. Within a week, all six beds were occupied, and a waitlist formed. 

Over the years, Shepherd Center has expanded and evolved to serve more patients. In 1982, the current campus began taking shape on Peachtree Road, making space for more specialized programs, including Shepherd Center hallmarks such as peer support and advocacy. 

The 1990s brought a wave of new services, including what’s now known as the Andrew C. Carlos Multiple Sclerosis Institute; Shepherd Center’s Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program, including Shepherd Pathways, a brain injury rehabilitation center in Decatur; and the Dean Stroud Spine and Pain Institute. The 2000s featured more major expansions: opening Shepherd’s first family residences and the SHARE Military Initiative for veterans, active-duty service members, and first responders with traumatic brain injuries and mental health concerns. 

“It certainly started with a focus on spinal cord injury rehabilitation — after my dad’s injury, my family saw a need for a rehabilitation hospital in the Southeast,” says Jamie Shepherd, son of co-founder James and current chief executive officer. “We’ve grown and added different departments, but it’s always kept that neuro focus. Almost everything we treat is a neurological condition, and that’s where our expertise lies.”

One program has remained at the core of Shepherd Center’s mission from the very beginning: Recreation Therapy.

“We thought that getting patients out of the hospital and into the community for outings was an integral part of their recovery,” says Dr. Apple. 

In fact, Dr. Apple thought rec therapy was such an important part of a patient’s rehabilitation that he initially paid the salary of Shepherd Center’s first recreation therapist, Barb (Leidheiser) Trader, out of his own pocket. For 18 months, Trader worked part-time — eight hours a week — taking patients to concerts, the mall, restaurants, Atlanta Braves baseball games, and, eventually, on bigger outings.

“Everything we did was empowering for the patients,” Trader shared in a 2016 Spinal Column story. “I had one man tell me: ‘The rest of the therapists taught me how to live. You showed me why I want to live.’”

By the time Trader left Shepherd Center in 1993 to work for the Atlanta Paralympic Organizing Committee, there were 10 recreation therapists helping patients learn to lead healthy and active lifestyles as independently as possible. Today, Shepherd boasts the largest recreation therapy program in the country, including sports teams, fitness facilities, and more.

Paris Carter is one of Shepherd’s recent patients who has learned firsthand the benefits of rec therapy. She came for outpatient services in 2023 with a T-10 SCI. Then 21 years old, Paris had a revelation at a Shepherd Center tennis clinic. 

“I hadn’t played many sports pre-injury, other than swimming,” Paris says. “But as soon as we started playing, I was hooked. It was the most fun I’d had in a long time, and that’s really what lit my spark again.”

From there, Paris has learned as many adaptive sports as she can: basketball, sled hockey, track, rugby, wheelchair football, swimming, you name it. Next up: fencing, curling, and boxing. She’s also gone on Shepherd Center’s Adventure Skills Workshops and traveled to Utah and Colorado on Shepherd-organized trips to ski, tube, and rock climb. 

“When I was newly injured, I had guilt, shame, anger, all of it, over my injury,” Paris recalls. “And that has to go somewhere. Therapy and talking helps, but sometimes you need the physical outlets. With the adaptive sports I’ve learned, I can pack my basketball up and go shoot hoops. I can go play tennis. I can go for a swim. Be mad, get it out. And get some exercise while I do!”

A graduate student now, Paris is pursuing a Master of Science in Healthcare Management and Informatics at Kennesaw State University. She’s also a member of a wheelchair basketball team in Atlanta’s BlazeSports league. 

“Everything I’m doing now started with that tennis clinic at Shepherd,” Paris says. “They’re just a hub for anything you can imagine that you’d want to try, and that’s such an important part of your recovery to get back to what you love. There are so many people with disabilities I’ve met who talk about what they can’t do. I love being able to talk about what I can do. And that’s all because of Shepherd Center.” 

This story first appeared in the special 50th anniversary issue of Spinal Column magazine.

Written by Phillip Jordan

In short, they have seen and heard some things when it comes to life-changing situations. But even they had never witnessed the trifecta of traumas Amanda experienced on Nov. 4, 2020. 

First, a heart attack. Compounded by an anoxic brain injury suffered during her resuscitation. And then a T-10 spinal cord injury — likely caused by a blood clot moving to her spinal cord during CPR — that resulted in paraplegia. 

Thankfully, Amanda stabilized during a two-week stay at Johnson City Medical Center, near the Lyons’ home in Gray, Tennessee, and soon transferred to Shepherd Center. Shepherd’s family housing was an “absolute godsend,” she says, as both Earl and her mom were able to be near while she was inpatient. 

Later, Amanda was able to join them there once she graduated from inpatient to the SCI Day Program. 

Throughout her journey, Amanda appreciated that her complex case was one that still fit easily within Shepherd’s expertise and collaborative team approach to patient care. 

“That’s what’s great about Shepherd Center,” she says. “They’ve seen it before, and they’ll see it again. Everything they did was about anticipating what life would be like at home, preparing me to be as independent as possible, and to learn how to adapt in order to achieve that.” 

Amanda is right about that intentionality at Shepherd Center. In fact, each family receives a form when their loved one is planning to return home. The form has questions about the housing the patient will return to once they leave. Families can supply pictures, too. That information helps Shepherd staff tailor their therapies for specific challenges. 

It also enables staff members to give practical advice for home modifications and safety strategies. 

“We can provide information that’s as simple as where to buy a grab bar to something as detailed as the ratio needed to build a ramp or instructions on widening doors,” says Lauren Ross, OTR/L,MS, an occupational therapist in the brain injury program. “Or even share advice on where families can find more aesthetically appealing modified furniture if that’s a mental boost for a loved one.” 

Shepherd Center also offers home modification classes and home lab classes that recreate home-transition scenarios. Classes dive deep into assistive technologies — such as smart devices, home automation systems, and Bluetooth features — that can make life easier at home. 

“We try to get families to think about these things early on so that they’re ready by the time they leave,” Ross says. “It’s about supporting the caregivers and amplifying patients’ long-term independence. We want them safe and confident at home, not back in a hospital.” 

In Amanda’s case, early conversations at Shepherd Center helped her and Earl realize what home modifications they would need to have ready. 

Amanda also credits her recreational therapy team with helping her figure out new ways to achieve things that used to come easily. 

“As much as possible, they prepared me for what life would really be like at home,” Amanda says. “In OT, I learned skills to navigate our bathroom, brushing my teeth, getting dressed. At our Shepherd family residence, we got that first little feeling like we were really living at home. There were things we could figure out for ourselves, but know that help was still nearby if we needed it.” 

Of course, all of the housing and technology and know-how don’t matter if the human element is missing. And beyond all else, it’s the people at Shepherd Center who impressed the Lyons the most. 

“You know how every once in a while you meet someone and they’re just a phenomenal human being, and it really blows you away?” Earl asks.“Think about how often that happens. Every once in a blue moon? At Shepherd, it was a daily occurrence. Somebody every day impressed me there. And I’m not too easy to impress. Everybody was kind. Everybody treated you like a human — not a patient or an account number. And I know there’s a lot else that goes into it, but when you’re in that kind of situation, how you’re treated means an awful lot.” 

By Phillip Jordan

In this issue of Spinal Column, we explore how patient and family housing, caregiver training, and transition support help families support loved ones during rehabilitation. We also celebrate the opening of the new Arthur M. Blank Family Residences, and the impact they will have on patients and families for years to come. 

The magazine also features these stories, among other patient profiles, staff highlights, honorariums, and memorials:

Q&A: Linda Bristol

In her role as housing director, Linda Bristol, supports out-of-town families throughout their time at Shepherd.

Spotlight on the Center for Assistive Technologies

Practical ways to help ease the transition to home so you can optimize recovery and help prevent rehospitalization.

Finding Renewed Purpose

For more than a decade after her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis, Kristine Werner Ozug has advocated on behalf of the MS community.

Subscribe here for Shepherd Center's Spinal Column magazine print and/or e-newsletter versions.

“I was shocked they could get me to walk on my very first session,” she said. “I couldn’t even sit on my own without falling over.”

In June 2023, Clarissa had surgery to remove a massive benign brain tumor. When she awoke from surgery, she discovered her left side was paralyzed and without feeling, due to an acquired brain injury (ABI) from the surgery. Doctors were optimistic that she would regain function, but it would be a long journey.

Her mother researched rehabilitation facilities for her daughter and was impressed with Shepherd Center. Clarissa was admitted to the ICU on July 10, 2023.

Clarissa, an active single mother of two boys, landlord of two properties, and a business systems analyst, had one important goal: to regain her independence. She was also determined to walk upon discharge.    

She worked with therapists on balance, strength, fine motor skills, and functional activities. She learned how to transfer from her wheelchair to the bed, the toilet, and a car. She also worked with a speech therapist on short-term memory, divided attention, and executive functioning skills.

“Everyone at Shepherd Center was so positive and encouraging, the perfect environment for healing,” Clarissa says. “It was very motivating. I felt safe there. I was part of a community and everyone wanted me to succeed.”

And succeed she did. She gradually regained her strength and balance, and walked with the aid of a walker. Her memory improved. Clarissa was discharged from the ABI floor Aug. 31, and a week later, she walked independently into Shepherd Pathways, Shepherd Center’s comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation program for people recovering from brain injury.

She continued her rehabilitation at Pathways and completed a Shepherd Center driving program to get back on the road. She also worked with a career counselor at Pathways to help with the transition back to work.

“I am so grateful to Shepherd Center. It was the perfect choice,” Clarissa says. “They gave me my life back. To me, they are real-life superheroes.”

By Sara Baxter

On Aug. 26, 2023, Elizabeth Newton fell, resulting in a shattered wrist, misaligned jaw, split open chin, and multiple bruises on her face. The broken wrist required surgery. As she recovered, she continued to experience dizziness, double vision, memory problems, and extreme fatigue. She chalked it up to side effects from the medications prescribed to her post-surgery. 

Things did not improve. She was sensitive to light and noise in a way she never had before. She felt like she was floating and wasn’t sure what was wrong. In her professional life, Elizabeth is a jewelry designer who founded enewton design, a popular jewelry company. But after her injury, she was unable to work.

When she went to see a doctor for ear pain due to her misaligned jaw, he told her she most likely had a concussion.

“I was surprised,” she says. “At the hospital, they did an MRI to rule out a brain bleed, but I didn’t know I had sustained a concussion.”

The doctor referred her to Shepherd Center's Complex Concussion Clinic, where she began therapy to address her symptoms. Right away, she was impressed with Shepherd Center. 

“The experience was very specialized to my needs,” Elizabeth says. “They took the time to listen to me and figure out what was going on, and then they tailored an individualized plan to get me where I was before the fall.”

Elizabeth worked with occupational, physical, and speech therapists on memory, balance, and strength issues and slowly began to see improvements.

“I liked how they measured my progress. Some weeks it was hard for me to feel a difference. Being able to see measured progress helped me stay positive throughout my concussion," Elizabeth says. “It was also nice to be in a clinic where they were focused on one thing — getting me better.”

Now, more than a year later, Elizabeth has nearly fully recovered and is back at the helm of her company full time.

“I’m a fifth-generation Atlantan ,” Elizabeth says. “I knew Shepherd Center was here, but I didn’t really know what it was about. We are so blessed to have a place like Shepherd Center in Atlanta.” 

By Sara Baxter

Case in point, the 32-year-old's adventurous lifestyle. While in college, he was a bull rider. He loves spending time outdoors, including backpacking and canoeing. But perhaps one of Dylan’s biggest challenges came after serving in the Army for four years. 

A hip injury ended his military service in 2017, beginning a stretch of difficult years for Dylan. He struggled to adjust to post-military life, got divorced, and lost friends to suicide. His decision to get his master’s degree in recreation therapy was more than career-driven — it was a way to start a new chapter. His degree created space for him to spend more time outside, which helped Dylan improve his mental health. But he had some cognitive challenges that lingered. After increasingly worrying amnesic episodes, doctors diagnosed Dylan with early onset dementia, a diagnosis that changed his life. He was only 30 years old. 

He quit a job he loved at a nonprofit in New Hampshire and began traveling the country, trying to maximize the time he had left. Then, his Wounded Warrior Project case manager referred him to Shepherd Center’s SHARE Military Initiative. During his program evaluation, SHARE Medical Director Russell Gore, M.D., questioned Dylan’s dementia diagnosis and started treating him for a brain injury. 

Things got better. Dylan’s cognitive abilities improved. His therapists encouraged his creative writing, which helped him process his emotions. SHARE helped Dylan get back on the horse, literally. Equestrian therapy allowed him to ride horses again, something he hadn’t done since before his hip injury. 

“(SHARE) ended up being very validating,” Dylan says. “After I got my mental health under control, there were still so many things that I couldn’t get to go right internally. Since being there, it’s been a complete 180 as far as my outlook for the future.” 

Now, for the first time in a long time, Dylan is back in his hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi. He’s spending time with family, gearing up for a potential Appalachian Trail thru-hike, and writing — this year, he published a novel and a poetry collection. Most of all, he’s excited for his future.

By Erin Kenney

Kristine began experiencing symptoms at the age of 17 when she was on the tennis team at Berry College. 

“I would do one or two sprints and then start dry heaving. I’d lose my footing doing drills on the stairs,” Kristine says. “It was all chalked up to being dehydrated or needing to be in better shape.” 

The issues progressed during her twenties. 

“I started noticing severe fatigue, tingling in my lip, my left leg was numb, and I was losing my voice, which we later discovered is due to a paralyzed vocal cord,” she recalls. “When I started forgetting things, it prompted me to see a neurologist.” 

While several of Kristine’s clinical tests came back abnormal, there was no definitive proof that pointed to MS at the time. In 2012, she decided to visit Ben Thrower, M.D., at the Andrew C. Carlos Multiple Sclerosis Institute at Shepherd Center. 

“I’ll never forget my first appointment with Dr. Thrower,” Kristine says. “I cried, not because I was told I had MS, but because it was a relief that someone believed me and I finally had a diagnosis. I’ve been going to Shepherd ever since.” 

Unfortunately, Kristine’s symptoms forced her to end her dream career in communications. 

“[My career] was gone. And so was my identity. My relevance. I had to stop work for the reasons most people living with MS do: fatigue and cognitive issues,” Kristine explains. “MS is a disease that constantly takes, but it also gives in a way that is sometimes hard to explain and identify in the moment.” 

Since her diagnosis, Kristine has found renewed purpose in activism on behalf of the MS community. 

Kristine’s technical and healthcare communications background prepared her to understand complicated research journals about MS. In the beginning, this helped her research and understand her own disease, but now she’s using her skills to shape MS research. 

“More and more, organizations are seeing the value in having patients have some sort of input in helping in the research process,” she says. “Shepherd's great because they have lots of opportunities for different studies.” 

For more than a year, Kristine has volunteered at RealTalk MS, the most listened-to podcast in the world for people affected by MS. The podcast discusses everything from the latest research to daily life with the disease. It is hosted by Jon Strum, whose wife passed away in 2020 after her battle with MS. 

“Volunteering for the podcast has been a great opportunity,” Kristine says. “Jon has a view from a caregiver perspective, and I have a view of somebody living with MS. We complement each other very well.” 

She has participated in advocacy work with the National MS Society at the state and federal levels, including giving testimony for legislative healthcare issues. Kristine has also come to love helping people with another type of advocacy: self-advocacy. 

“I don’t give medical advice — I leave that to people who work at places like Shepherd Center,” Kristine explains. “I listen to people who are newly diagnosed and offer a plan and options for the next steps. I’m honored that they trust me at such a vulnerable time.” 

While reflecting on helping others during their most vulnerable moments, Kristine remembered what it meant to her when she first met the team at Shepherd. 

“Shepherd saved my life in many ways. It wasn't just my diagnosis,” Kristine says. “It was also helping me see my strength to navigate everything that has happened to me. I wouldn't have morphed into the person I am today if it wasn't for them.” 

She adds, “MS took from me, but I’ve also received so many gifts. Like the people I’ve met and the connections I’ve made that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. I can help people and serve.” 

By Damjana Alverson

The next day, Clara traveled cross-country to Shepherd Center and stayed throughout Erina’s inpatient rehabilitation and time at Shepherd Pathways. Throughout it all, Clara — along with her friend, Jan Beach, and Erina’s sister, Allison Kozel — lived in one of Shepherd Center’s family residences. 

“I don’t know what we would have done otherwise,” Clara says. “We couldn’t go back and forth to California, and we didn’t have family in Atlanta. We were very thankful for those accommodations.” 

The proximity allowed Clara to come over most mornings before Erina’s therapy began — to braid her daughter’s hair and get her ready for the day. COVID restrictions were still firmly in place in 2021, so the family spent lots of time outside enjoying the Anna and Hays Mershon Secret Garden. Clara and Jan both play the ukulele, and the two soon had a small group of players together for informal garden sessions — with other patients and families enjoying the music. 

Care-wise, Clara credits Erina’s team with helping the family learn how to best assist Erina before she re-learned to walk. But Clara also notes that what they learned went far beyond wheelchairs and transfers. 

“They were always thinking ahead about what would be helpful for her in the future,” Clara says. “Giving us tricks for compression garments, showing us how to use new equipment. Helping us navigate the insurance and social security side of things, too. They just helped us through the maze of it all. And there was a sweetness and a caring in everything. We felt it from everyone.” 

Erina was 44 when she had her stroke. A mother with two young children, the California native had been a longtime reporter and anchor on different TV stations. She settled in Savannah, where she began working at the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). The year before her stroke, she had been named SCAD’s new executive director of inclusion. 

Now 48, Erina’s speech is still returning, but she’s already living a vibrant, independent life once again. She’s involved in her children’s lives, has taken up golf, loves Savannah Bananas baseball games, and attends the Savannah Film Festival. Erina has also participated in a pair of Adventure Skills Workshops through Shepherd Center, picking up a love of watersports. And she’s driving again with adaptive technology — including roundtrips between Savannah and Atlanta when she has follow-up appointments at Shepherd Center. 

As Clara puts it with a laugh: “Her determination is crazy — her tenacity. I would have been whining every day through rehab. But she was just relentless.” 

Last year, Clara and other family members celebrated Erina’s progress with a trip to Ireland, Clara’s homeland. They visited with family members in County Cork, took a ferry to France, and even visited the Louvre. 

“It’s amazing to see where she is now,” Clara says of her daughter. “When we first took Erina back to Savannah, I was always worried about her falling. She would tell me: ‘So what if I do? I’ll just get back up.’ That’s Erina. She’s going to make it work no matter what.” 

By Phillip Jordan

In this issue of Spinal Column, we explore the many ways our therapists, academic coordinators, and vocational rehabilitation counselors smooth the transition back to school, work, or “adulting” — teaching patients to advocate for themselves and let their schools and employers know what accommodations they may or may not need.

The magazine also features these stories, among other patient profiles, staff highlights, honorariums, and memorials:

Instilling Confidence through Education and Expertise

In her role as transition support case manager, Kathleen Levenson, RN, CRRN, guides, educates, and advocates for patients.

Ten Tips to Ease the Transition Home

Practical ways to help ease the transition to home so you can optimize recovery and help prevent rehospitalization.

Man on a Mission

Robby Barbieri’s spinal cord injury set him on a path to advocacy.

Subscribe here for Shepherd Center's Spinal Column magazine print and/or e-newsletter versions.

In this issue of Spinal Column, we delve into the stories of patients and families who have come full circle, reflecting on how their time at Shepherd Center instilled in them an unwavering determination to pay it forward, either by supporting Shepherd directly or by making a difference in the broader disability community. While her mom was a patient at Shepherd Center, Raeda Anderson, Ph.D., made it a personal goal to return to Shepherd to work in research. More than two decades ago, David Martin, then Delta Air Lines’ disability access manager, helped establish Shepherd’s airport outing program. This year, he attended the outing as a patient. And Brandon Winfield turned his experience after sustaining a spinal cord injury into an app that helps people with accessibility needs find new places to explore.

The magazine also features these stories, among other patient profiles, staff highlights, honorariums, and memorials:

More than a Job … Following her Heart

Soon after her son sustained a brain injury, Kim Ross felt so much love and support that she knew that she wanted to give back.

Buoyed by Community

After sustaining a spinal cord injury (SCI), Eden Schroeder rediscovered her love for swimming and built a supportive community around herself.

Training and Teamwork

Wound care services at Shepherd Center include specialized care teams and education for patients, caregivers, and staff.

Subscribe here for Shepherd Center's Spinal Column magazine print and/or e-newsletter versions.

In this issue of Spinal Column, we explore the programs Shepherd Center offers that build upon the solid foundation of traditional therapy to support patients’ overall wellness and prepare them and their families for vibrant lives back home. Carson West and his mom, Alexis Schulze, found that their training through Shepherd Center’s High-Tetraplegia Program (HiTe) made the transition home much more manageable. As a member of Shepherd Center’s Eula C. and Andrew C. Carlos Multiple Sclerosis Rehabilitation and Wellness Program, Cathy May says she has learned to actively fight MS by keeping her body strong and less stressed. And Anna Katherine (AK) Spangler and her family leaned on their faith and appreciated the support of Shepherd’s chaplains after AK sustained a spinal cord injury.

The magazine also features these stories, among other patient profiles, staff highlights, honorariums, and memorials:

Helping Patients Understand Their Brain Injuries As a board-certified neuropsychologist, Michelle Jackson, Ph.D., ABPP-CN, educates patients and families on how injury or illness may affect brain function.

Saying “Yes!” to Adventure After sustaining a spinal cord injury, Alesha Savannah thought her life was over. Instead, the self-proclaimed “people person” has thrived on new experiences.

Back on Track Peter Bradshaw credits Shepherd Center’s Complex Concussion Clinic with helping him get his life back on track.

Subscribe here for Shepherd Center's Spinal Column magazine print and/or e-newsletter versions.

In this issue of Spinal Column, we explore the many ways Shepherd Center promotes and supports lifelong learning for staff, patients, and clinical allies worldwide. Life experience and curiosity guided Jessica Pan Conklin, Ph.D., in her academic journey and professional career as a scientist-practitioner in neuropsychology. Bobby Rosenbleeth's passion for knowledge compelled him to continue learning and pursuing his interests after he sustained a brain injury. And Christopher Hairie, PT, DPT, MBA, at Atrium Health Navicent in Macon, Georgia, is one of the many clinicians who turn to Shepherd Center’s NeuroRehabilitation Learning Institute for high-quality, best-practices education.

The magazine also features these stories, among other patient profiles, staff highlights, honorariums, and memorials:

Advancing Learning to Improve Care

Diane Johnston, MSPT, director of professional education at Shepherd Center, helps Shepherd bridge gaps in professional education and improve care for patients worldwide.

Leaning on and Learning From Others

After Taylor Eastridge sustained a traumatic brain injury, she and her husband, Tyler, found support at Shepherd Center.

Life Lessons

The lessons Chris Port learned during rehabilitation at Shepherd Center influenced his approach to life.

Subscribe here for Shepherd Center's magazine's print and/or e-newsletter versions.

In this issue of Spinal Column, we hear from former patients about how Shepherd Center’s Recreation Therapy Program helped them return to old adventures or prepare for new ones. During rehabilitation from a stroke, Kendall Ball was thrilled to discover the arts and crafts space at Shepherd. A self-described “Jill of all trades,” Kendall found crafting could be an essential part of her therapy. While an inpatient, Travis Daniel watched Shepherd sports teams from the sidelines — now he is a member of the Shepherd Smash quad rugby team and Shepherd Sluggers softball team. And while Austin Yarbrough always loved being outside, he discovered fly fishing on a recreation therapy outing and was hooked.

The magazine also features these stories, among other patient profiles, staff highlights, honorariums, and memorials:

Putting Relationships First

Detrick Gates, CTRS, finds the relationships he forms as a recreation therapist at Shepherd Pathways fulfilling.

The Healing Power of Adaptive Sports: Ellen Geddes’ Story

As former Shepherd Center patient and parafencing medalist Ellen Geddes trains to qualify for the 2024 Paralympics, she shares how adaptive sports helped her adjust to life after injury and go for the gold.

A Story to Tell

After sustaining multiple traumas in a car crash, Cesar Perez worked hard to reclaim his life and discovered he had a story to share.

Subscribe here for print and/or e-newsletter versions of Shepherd Center's magazine.

In this issue of Spinal Column, we celebrate the universal language of hope that exists at Shepherd Center. We hear from patients from across the country and around the globe about why they chose Shepherd Center for rehabilitation. Sachin Chamaria traveled to Shepherd from New Delhi, India, and recaptured his love of sports during rehabilitation. Daniel Hund found that the progress he made at Shepherd Center and the sincere staff investment in his well-being helped him focus on new possibilities in his life. Finally, after sustaining a traumatic brain injury, Rachel Foster of Oklahoma was determined to return to running. She started with daily laps around Shepherd Center’s track and went on to complete the Boston Marathon.

The magazine also features these stories, among other patient profiles, staff highlights, honorariums, and memorials:

Breaking Barriers

From speech to music, speech-language pathologist Deborah A. Vega, MS, CCC-SLP, HC, champions the universal power of communication to connect.

Reclaiming Her Wings

Tiffany Vinson credits Shepherd Center’s Wheelchair Seating Clinic with helping her find the right chair to fit her lifestyle of travel.

Igniting Creativity and Advancing Innovation

At the Innovation Institute in the new Marcus Center for Advanced Rehabilitation, researchers, engineers, clinical scientists, and designers will explore real-world applications of research and technology to provide extraordinary care to more people.

Finding His Center

After a stroke, JR Reid embraced innovative treatments at Shepherd Center.

Subscribe here for print and/or e-newsletter versions of Shepherd Center's magazine.

When they married in 2020, the pandemic wiped out their honeymoon plans to ski the mountains of Iceland’s Tröllaskagi Peninsula. Two years later, the couple — then 22 and living in Lynchburg, Virginia — finally made it to Iceland. When they arrived on the evening of March 16, 2022, the future seemed as limitless as the frozen fjords and snow-capped peaks that dominated the majestic landscape around them.  

“Neither of us expected life was about to change so drastically, so quickly,” Daniel says.

Less than 12 hours later, while on a solo morning hike, Daniel’s skis lost traction on a steep, glassy slope. He skidded, then plunged more than 30 meters down a deep ice chute. The fall resulted in a complete T-3-to-T-4 spinal cord injury, along with multiple traumas.

By the time members of a nearly 100-person rescue team located him six hours later, Daniel had gone into cardiac arrest and experienced a stroke caused by hypothermia and internal bleeding. He’d also sustained a traumatic brain injury due to the stroke, and his prolonged hypothermia would eventually require the amputation of his legs, just above the knees.

“What I remember most is believing wholeheartedly that I was going to die,” Daniel says. “The feeling that it was over. That feeling has stuck with me ever since the injury. It’s hard at times. I’ve gone through depression. I still have to consciously resist that urge to think that life is over for me and instead focus on new possibilities. The good things in my life. The things that I can do.”

Daniel credits Shepherd Center with helping him reorient his thinking.

“I made big strides in occupational, physical, and speech therapy there,” Daniel says. “But what impressed me was they went above and beyond in so many ways emotionally. Everyone at Shepherd Center just cared so intensely and spent the time with me that I needed.”

“Everybody was super positive at a time when it’s so easy to be super negative,” Sierra explains.

Daniel spent three months in Shepherd Center’s inpatient Comprehensive  Rehabilitation Unit, learning adaptations to regain physical independence. He followed that up with two pivotal months at Shepherd Pathways, a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation program for people recovering from brain injuries.

Daniel’s stroke had resulted in severe aphasia, affecting his ability to express and understand both written and spoken language. Those would be serious concerns for anyone, but especially for someone who loved reading and writing and had just completed a year of law school.

Daniel credits the cognitive improvements he made at Pathways for pushing him to where he is today. He can easily engage in conversation now, and his reading is up to a fifth-grade level. New career avenues open each day.

In the meantime, Daniel and Sierra are building their life together anew. The couple has moved back to their hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they’re looking at houses. They’re talking about kids. And they’re figuring out how to get back into camping and other outdoor adventures — including a return trip to Iceland to replace old memories with brighter ones.

Above all, they’re thankful for this second chance to be newlyweds.

“When we got home from Iceland, a lot of people encouraged us to do Danny’s rehabilitation somewhere close to where we were living in Virginia, or back home in New Mexico,” Sierra says. “But we wanted to get the best care possible, no matter where that took us. We’re so grateful that the opportunity opened up, and we chose to make the journey to Shepherd Center. It was the home away from home that we needed.”

Written by Phillip Jordan

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.
 

One of the emerging leaders in the craft is India’s Sachin Chamaria, a three-time national gold medalist in the sport. The New Delhi native has already represented his home country at international competitions in Italy, Poland, and the United Arab Emirates.

“Discovering this sport has given me such a sense of purpose,” Sachin says. “I didn’t know if I would be able to recapture my love of sports again after my injury.”

In 2008, Sachin sustained a C-4-to-C-5 spinal cord injury in a car accident. In the years that followed, he struggled to regain his independence and find an outlet for his competitiveness, which he had honed in his youth as a national-level taekwondo champion.

Sachin’s elder brother Rahul discovered Shepherd Center while visiting the U.S. in search of better treatment for Sachin’s injury. Sachin’s family was impressed with Shepherd Center’s capabilities — and even more so with its staff. After graduating from university in 2012, Sachin traveled to Shepherd Center. Here, he learned new ways to accomplish everyday tasks that had become daunting post-injury, like getting dressed, eating, and bathing. His pinch-and-grasp function improved significantly — an essential skill, incidentally, for the sport that would later change his life.

“Shepherd Center played a huge role in making me as independent as I am,” Sachin says. “Their expertise is impressive, and there’s no match for the modalities and resources they possess.”

Shepherd Center is also where he realized sport and adventure remained firmly in his grasp. He went water skiing for the first time, rode an all-terrain vehicle, did rifle shooting, and practiced adaptive driving.

“In a Ford truck, the real Southern experience,” Sachin notes with a laugh.

He was able to do this all with his family by his side, too, thanks to Shepherd Center’s donor-funded family housing options. His family’s presence alleviated Sachin’s trepidation about traveling globally for treatment in a foreign country.

Today, Sachin is excited to start his own family. He and his fiancée Kajal plan to marry in the coming year. Kajal is a dentist, while Sachin started his own company, Growealth Capital, which deals in the shares market, in 2018.

“I’ve always loved statistics and mathematics, so this was perfect for me,” he says. “I like it when my brain is constantly active. I cannot stand to sit idle!”

And when the work piles up, Sachin and Kajal hit the dance floor.

“Dancing is one of the best stress-busters for me,” Sachin says. “I’m human. We all feel low or frustrated sometimes. So, when that happens, we’ll call up friends, go to a club, and dance things out.”

Of course, boccia remains Sachin’s passion. He will represent India at this fall’s Asian Para Games in China. The next big goal is to qualify for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.

“Just representing my country on that stage would be such an honor, win or lose,” Sachin says. 

Sachin also wants to use his platform to grow the sport. This year, he’s met twice with Penny Morrison-Ross, director of global initiatives at the Shepherd Center Foundation, about incorporating the sport in recreation therapy at Shepherd Center.

“We would love for Sachin to introduce boccia to our patients and help us bring the sport here,” Morrison-Ross says. “He’s been so helpful in spearheading this effort, one that could be very impactful for our current and future patients.”

Sachin is thrilled to bring boccia to a place that has meant so much to his journey.

“Because it’s not just a sport to learn, it’s recreation therapy,” he says. “And it can be a newfound purpose for people. It is so important to find new passions to motivate yourself. Life without purpose is no life at all.”

Written by Phillip Jordan

Pursuing Possible with Shepherd Center

To support patient stories like this one, please consider contributing to Shepherd Center's Pursuing Possible campaign.            

Through them all, Rachel’s husband John kept recalling Rachel’s earliest post-injury runs that seemed even more miraculous than the 26.2 miles that Rachel ran in a cold Boston rain. As John sees it, Rachel’s marathon began on an oval, indoor track lofted above the Livingston Gym at Shepherd Center in Atlanta — where she spent more than three months in inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation.

“I can’t count how many hours she spent up there,” John says. “As soon as she was able to run again, you couldn’t stop her.”

Rachel started by alternating two running and two walking laps, building up to a mile. By the time she left Shepherd Center, she was covering 10 miles at a time.

“Running was my biggest personal goal in physical therapy,” Rachel says. “Not just for the marathon, but because running has always been a joyful part of my life. And I had lost it in an instant.”

Back in November 2022, John and Rachel had snuck in a rare date, taking a break from the daily grind that comes with owning a small business. (In their case, an Italian restaurant named Moni’s, where John oversees business operations and Rachel is the chef.) The couple’s date ended prematurely when Rachel crashed on her electric scooter. She sustained a severe traumatic brain injury, broke 17 bones, and was placed on life support with a ventilator doing her breathing.

After 10 days in an unresponsive coma at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center, Rachel’s care team advised John that Rachel was unlikely to regain consciousness — and unlikely to eat or breathe again on her own even if she did. While John was considering the way forward, Rachel woke up. As she slowly but steadily improved, her neurosurgeon described her recovery as miraculous.

Rachel reached Shepherd Center in mid-December. Soon, a serious secondary complication emerged. Almost half of Rachel’s skull had to be removed during her initial emergency surgery in Oklahoma City to make room for the swelling in her brain. But without her skull in place, she developed sinking skin flap syndrome, a known complication with craniectomies. In Rachel’s case, her symptoms were severe headaches that got worse out of bed, making physical therapy nearly impossible.

Ford Vox, M.D., medical director of Shepherd Center’s Disorders of Consciousness Program, diagnosed the syndrome and brought in Gary R. Gropper, M.D., consulting neurosurgeon, to address the issue. The team mapped her skull and created a 3D-printed replica of the missing sections. Dr. Gropper then implanted the new cap to restore the structure of her skull. The operation provided the pain relief Rachel needed without interrupting her stay at Shepherd Center.

From there, she was off to the races.

"What was incredible to me was how quickly things could change with Rachel and then how quickly her doctors and care team would respond to find the next solution,” John says. “When you work together in a place with all the services and facilities Shepherd Center has, and the wealth of experience there, it’s an incredible advantage.”

Case in point: While Rachel poured herself into physical therapy, she discovered an unexpected benefit in Shepherd Center’s psychological services.

“The toughest things for me were the mental battles, just being frustrated with myself and mad that my body wasn’t able to do what I knew I could do,” Rachel says. “I’d never done [psychological] therapy before, and it made me uncomfortable at first. But once I started talking, it helped so much. Tim Riggins (her rehabilitation counselor at Shepherd Center) did such a good job of making me feel calm, comfortable, and accepted."

After six weeks of inpatient care, Rachel extended her rehabilitation through Shepherd Pathways outpatient rehabilitation while staying in an accessible Shepherd Center apartment next to campus.

And three weeks after leaving Shepherd Center, Rachel Foster crossed the Boston Marathon finish line.

Today, Rachel sees many more marathons ahead. She and John will stay busy with Moni’s, too. And the couple plans to keep sharing Rachel’s improbable comeback to give others hope.

Those storytelling plans include a book, and Rachel knows one story that will surely be included.

While at Shepherd Center, she became fast friends with one of her inpatient nurses, Bella Truong. The duo became so close that they decided to get matching tattoos. “I kind of talked her into it,” Rachel says with a laugh. “It was her first, but definitely not mine!”

When the ink was dry, each woman had a new mantra on their arms framed by a morning sun rising over the horizon. Above it, the words: And, too, I rise.

“That was so special to do with Bella,” Rachel says. “And those words are true. There is always hope. It sounds cheesy, but it’s important to hold onto that when there are so many things that can take your hope away and take your happiness away.”

“No matter what life throws at you, you still can rise.”

Written by Phillip Jordan

Pursuing Possible with Shepherd Center

To support patient stories like this one, please consider contributing to Shepherd Center's Pursuing Possible campaign.       

Soon after her surgery, Jana began training to be a yoga teacher. She finds significant meaning in sharing yoga with others.

“I can't fully smile on the outside, but I don't feel it anymore. Helping others grow and be stronger helped me love myself in a different way,” she explains.

Last year, during a bout with Covid, Jana got up in the middle of the night and fainted, hitting her head near where part of her skull had been removed years earlier. She sustained a concussion which resulted in severe vertigo.

Her neighbor, a neurologist, recommended the Complex Concussion Clinic (CCC) at Shepherd Center. The team at the CCC began planning how to treat her vertigo, using infrared videonystagmography (VNG) goggles to detect Jana’s eye movements and measure central motor function.

Jana visited the CCC two to three times a week for physical therapy.

“We did tons of exercises, and it was neat because I had such good balance from practicing yoga, they had to put me on a big foam block to challenge me more,” she explains.

Russell Gore, M.D., medical director of the CCC, also gave her a series of nerve blocks to reduce the pain in the back of her head.

Finally, she was able to return to teaching yoga. Unfortunately, vertigo returned, so Jana returned to the CCC for more physical therapy. Her physical therapist taught her exercises she could do at home. Now Jana’s feeling better and back to doing what she loves. And she continues to share her story.

“It's amazing to think back to what a long way I've come. I don't know what I would have done without everyone at the CCC. With all the different things that have happened to me, I try to teach people that you can overcome obstacles and get stronger.”

Written by Ruth Underwood

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.

Jake Ciccone  
SHARE Military Initiative Peer Support Lead Liaison

Boredom is not in United States Navy veteran Jake Ciccone’s vocabulary. In addition to owning his own dog training company and liquidation firm, he volunteers as a maintenance diver at the Georgia Aquarium and helps others through horticulture therapy. 

“I once decided to remodel all the bathrooms in my house because I didn’t have anything else to do!” Ciccone says. 

This drive to work toward a goal and give back stems from a couple of places. 

First, his parents. Ciccone’s parents met while they were in the Navy. His mom is from the Philippines and got her U.S. citizenship while serving as a Navy Hospital Corps member. His father is a first-generation American whose family came from Italy. He served as a Navy Diver. 

“My parents did not have a lot of money at the start, but they had a ton of work ethic,” Ciccone says. “They are the biggest influence on my life.” 

The second big influence in Ciccone’s life was the 16 weeks he spent as a client in Shepherd Center’s SHARE Military Initiative, a comprehensive rehabilitation program that delivers world-class treatment at no cost to veterans, service members, and first responders who are dealing with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and mental health concerns. 

At first, he was hesitant to give SHARE a chance, but his long-time friend and fellow veteran, AJ Veal, an outreach coordinator at SHARE, encouraged Ciccone to get evaluated.

“I didn’t realize I even had a TBI until I got evaluated,” Ciccone says. “After leaving the military, I had vision and balance issues. I started falling more often and became angrier. I felt lazy. SHARE helped me get my life back together. They helped me realize I’m a doer — that’s when I feel happiest.” 

Ciccone graduated from SHARE in 2020. The confidence he gained as a client helped him create two successful businesses and start putting himself back out in the world. But that wasn’t enough. 

“I would talk with my therapist about what purpose means to me,” Ciccone reflects. “When I laid it all out, I understood it involved helping others. Then I thought about who I wanted to help, and the answer was veterans like me.” 

Eventually, the SHARE peer support lead liaison position opened up at Shepherd Center. Ciccone applied and started on January 10, 2022. Now, he can pass on what he’s learned through his experiences to others. 

“I’m the bridge between our clinicians and the clients. As someone who’s been through it, I normalize what the program is, give them the techniques that worked for me, and support them in any way possible,” Ciccone says. 

Sherry Turner, OTR/L  
Occupational Therapist

Growing up in Southfield, Michigan, as one of four sisters, Sherry Turner was used to always having a lot of people around. 

“My parents’ house was the community house,” Turner shares. “My mom cooks all the time, so it wasn’t rare to have cousins and friends come over. We’re like one big, collective family!” 

It was Turner’s mom, an oncology nurse, who had the greatest influence on her life. Turner knew she wanted to work in healthcare, and her mom guided her to look into occupational therapy (OT), which is therapy based on engagement in meaningful activities of daily life, such as self-care skills, education, work, or social interaction. 

“After she recommended OT, I went to the career center at my high school and looked it up,” Turner recalls. “I realized she was right and this career was the perfect fit for me!” 

She graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in occupational therapy in 2002, and followed her career prospects to Atlanta, Georgia. Missing her family back home, Turner created a new family in Atlanta through church, hobbies like roller skating, and her work. It was her work family that led her to Shepherd Center. 

“At a previous job, I was very close with three of my colleagues. We were all ambitious new graduates,” Turner says. “One of my colleagues did an internship at Shepherd and ended up working there. Next thing I know, another one went to Shepherd, followed by the third colleague!”

Curious about what Shepherd Center was all about, Turner applied for an OT role and visited the hospital for a half-day interview. 

“There were two moments that won me over,” Turner says. “When I went to the cafeteria and saw the Shepherd family sitting at a table eating with employees, I could tell the culture was a fit for me. Then, I went to the gym and saw a variety of disciplines collaborating to treat patients, mingling together. It was eye-opening – I knew I needed this job!” 

Turner started in May 2006 and has been with Shepherd Center ever since. She now works primarily in two areas: outpatient spinal cord injury rehabilitation and the Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Clinic, a comprehensive rehabilitation therapy and treatment program to improve upper extremity function for people with spinal cord and brain injuries who have limited function in their arms, wrists, and hands. 

One person Turner credits for her interest in upper extremity care is Allan Peljovich, M.D., MPH, a Shepherd Center consulting orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Peljovich specializes in tendon and nerve transfer surgeries that can re-animate a muscle and restore function in the arm, wrist, and/or hand. 

“Dr. P was a great resource,” Turner says. “Earlier in my career, he took the time to talk with me and teach me. His passion was contagious. After shadowing him, I realized I wanted to learn more!” 

Turner began participating in trainings and conferences to learn more, and she is now one of two OTs specializing in upper extremity at Shepherd. 

“Our team is specialized to handle the kinds of surgeries and treatments needed for these complex patients with brain and spinal cord injuries,” Turner says. “I am so proud to be part of that.” 

Allyson Strauss, CTRS, CCM  
Case Manager, Complex Concussion Clinic

As Allyson Strauss reflects on her 14-year career at Shepherd Center, it seems like the stars aligned to get her to where she is today. 

“I almost feel like this path was chosen for me — I never would’ve pictured it going this way, but it worked out,” Strauss says. 

Today, she is a case manager in Shepherd Center’s Complex Concussion Clinic (CCC), a specialized program that uses an interdisciplinary approach to evaluate and treat individuals with suspected concussions so they can return to their lives. On any given day, Strauss serves as the liaison between the healthcare professionals on each patient’s individual treatment team while overseeing patients’ therapy benefits, coordinating paperwork, answering patient questions, facilitating return to work or school plans, and guiding patients through their treatment plans. 

Strauss sums it up this way: “I basically help manage the medical, social, financial, and behavioral needs of our patients in the CCC. It’s all the behind-the-scenes work that people may not realize takes place in healthcare.” 

Her path at Shepherd even led her to her husband, Christopher. 

“If I hadn’t worked at Shepherd, I don’t know if I would’ve met him!” she says. “We met through a colleague of mine who is a mutual friend and actually introduced us. Fast forward, and we now have two wonderful kids together.” 

Working in healthcare runs in Strauss’ family. Her father is a retired physician, and her mom is a retired nurse. Growing up, she’d visit her dad at work, and normal dinner table conversation usually consisted of her parents recounting their days working with patients. 

“Healthcare is definitely a big part of our family – we lived and breathed it!” Strauss says.

There were a few stops on Strauss’ path to case management. It started with her interest in recreation therapy while she was a student at Clemson University. 

“In the Southeast, if you have anything to do with recreation therapy, you learn about Shepherd Center,” Strauss says. “It has the largest rec therapy department and has a reputation for valuing rec therapists as part of the treatment team. From my time in college, I knew I wanted to work at Shepherd.” 

And she did just that. After graduating from Clemson in 2004, she began her career at Shepherd the following year, serving as a recreation therapist in the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program. She left Shepherd for a brief period in her late 20s to fulfill a lifelong dream to live out West, but ultimately returned to Atlanta to be close to family. At the time, a recreation therapist/life skills therapist position at Shepherd was open. 

“The position introduced me to life skills therapy which inevitably introduced me to case management. I would visit patients’ homes to work on life skills and started helping with additional things like managing appointments or filling out social security disability applications. I didn’t even realize I was interested in case management at the time, but I naturally fell into it!” Strauss says. 

She decided to earn her Certified Case Manager (CCM) certification, and she has been doing case management ever since. 

“What I love most about case management is helping people,” she explains. “I know I’m contributing to helping someone during a stressful time in their life. It’s challenging but so rewarding.” 

Brad Willingham, Ph.D.  
Clinical Research Scientist, Shepherd Center's Virginia C. Crawford Research Institute, MS Research

A keen sense of curiosity.  An enthusiasm for the unknown. A desire to help people. 

For Brad Willingham, Ph.D., these forces drove his career aspirations and led him to begin a career as a clinical research scientist with a focus on multiple sclerosis (MS) at Shepherd Center on November 1, 2021. 

In this role, he addresses fundamental scientific questions about treatments and interventions that can improve the lives of people with MS. 

Dr. Willingham developed a deep appreciation for Shepherd Center as a young boy, when his uncle, who had a rare neurodegenerative disease, received services through the hospital. So, when his lifelong passion for exercise led him to pursue a master’s in clinical exercise physiology, he knew where to volunteer in his free time. 

“During my grad program, I volunteered at Shepherd’s ProMotion Fitness Center as a fitness buddy, helping patients reach their goals,” Dr. Willingham explains. “I loved knowing I was using what I’d learned to help others.” 

Volunteering made an impact. After graduating, Dr. Willingham accepted a position as an exercise physiologist in Shepherd Center’s Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program working alongside physical therapists to create exercise programs for patients. 

As he gained experience, his trademark curiosity kicked in. What could be done to make even more practical, meaningful advances in rehabilitation? What strategies could clinicians use to target and treat the underlying causes of mobility impairments he saw every day? To answer those questions scientifically, he realized he needed to pursue a career in research. 

Dr. Willingham tapped his mentor and Shepherd Center Vice President of Research and Innovation, Deborah Backus, PT, Ph.D., FACRM, for guidance. She advised pursuing a doctorate; fortunately, he was up for the challenge. 

This decision set into motion what he jokingly refers to as “an odyssey, of sorts.”

Throughout the doctoral program, Dr. Willingham stayed in touch with the team at Shepherd by continuing to work as needed and even basing his dissertation on clinical research at the hospital focusing on neuromuscular dysfunction in people with MS. He completed his degree and spent four years working in Washington, D.C., at the National Institutes of Health where he gained advanced scientific training in physiology. Then one fateful day, he received an email from Dr. Backus inviting him to rejoin the team at Shepherd. 

Now well into his clinical research role, Dr. Willingham has the opportunity to do what he loves most: using the knowledge he’s gained to help people. One of his most recent projects is a patent request for an innovative system that can extract meaningful information from the millions of data points generated by wearable fitness devices, allowing clinicians to monitor and improve treatment plans for patients remotely, in real-time. 

In addition to career milestones, Dr. Willingham and his wife had a personal milestone to celebrate during the past year: the birth of their son, James, who recently turned one. 

“Having James gives new meaning to my life – it’s been by far the greatest thing I’ve done,” Dr. Willingham says. “I told Dr. Backus that I’m so happy that not only does James get to be back home in Atlanta around his family, but he also gets to be exposed to our culture at Shepherd Center and everything we do.” 

Jackie Haar, MSW, LCSW  
Counselor, Andrew C. Carlos Multiple Sclerosis Institute

When patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) visit Shepherd Center’s MS Institute, they receive a wholistic approach to care, focusing on the physical, cognitive, and psychological aspects of their wellbeing. Jackie Haar, the MS counselor in Shepherd Center’s MS Institute, focuses on the psychological piece of the puzzle. 

“I provide individual and group counseling to people with MS and their care partners to help them adjust to life with MS,” Haar explains. “We focus on chronic illness and pain and the impact it can have on one’s life, including family, job, and social life. We cover it all.” 

This type of focused, specialized care is essential. 

“Anxiety and depression are more prevalent for people with MS because of the nature of the illness, as well as the uncertainty of the disease,” Haar explains. “I work on teaching my patients how to address those feelings and cope in a constructive way.” 

Haar also facilitates regular groups, including a 12-week psychoeducational series for people who are newly diagnosed called Living Well with MS and an emotional support group for people who have been living with MS and are looking to connect with others who understand their experience. 

“My patients are wonderful,” Haar says. “They come from all backgrounds. They all have their own story to tell. I love seeing how empowering it can be when I listen to them and validate what they are experiencing.” 

Haar started her position at Shepherd Center on July 26, 2021, after more than 25 years of clinical experience providing individual counseling, group therapy, and resources to adults, couples, and children with various complex medical, developmental, learning, and mental health issues. 

Haar’s acute interest in how people overcome adversity began at a young age. Growing up, she struggled with learning challenges that she had to adapt to and overcome. She credits her mom and one special teacher for being key advocates for her. 

“They fought for me to make sure I had the appropriate services in the school system,” Haar says. “I had to work hard, but I overcame the challenges. Now I advocate for my patients and teach them to advocate for themselves.” 

Her fascination with human behavior grew during high school when she was introduced to sociology, the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society. She continued her studies at Emory University, majoring in sociology with a minor in psychology, and eventually earned her master’s degree in social work at Washington University in St. Louis. 

All of these experiences have led her to Shepherd, where she points to the people as one of the primary reasons she loves working at the hospital. 

“I see my work as more meaningful when working with a team of professionals,” Haar says. “All the specialties collaborate, so the patients are being treated as a whole person – mind and body. That approach is really important to me.” 

Crispin Del Nero, RN, BS, CRRN, CCRN-K  
Lead Nursing Educator for ICU, Comprehensive Rehabilitation Unit, and PRN Resource Staff

Nursing was a second career for Crispin Del Nero. “Until my late twenties, I worked in restaurants and night clubs. With nursing, I decided I wanted to do something to help people get healthy instead of unhealthy!” he jokes. 

All jokes aside, when Del Nero dedicates himself to something, he goes all in. He was first introduced to Shepherd Center as a nursing student when he shadowed a nurse during his senior practicum. This nurse worked in the ICU on weekend nights, and once Del Nero saw what she did, he was hooked. He began his nursing career at Shepherd Center in 2009. 

“It’s a privilege and a responsibility to take care of people at their most vulnerable,” Del Nero says. “That first year, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s so much to do in one day!’ Slowly, you gain experience, the job gets more manageable, and you understand that you can do it all.” 

In 2016, Del Nero had the opportunity to shift gears at work, accepting a role as lead nursing educator across several areas at Shepherd Center, including the ICU and Comprehensive Rehabilitation Unit (CRU). The ICU treats patients that require a higher level of care and closer monitoring. The CRU is a 28-bed unit that serves patients with medical-surgical issues and complex injuries, including pressure injuries, catastrophic injuries requiring amputation, medical complications, and spinal cord and brain injuries. 

“Essentially, I’m a teacher. I help orient new nurses and patient care technicians to their roles, helping them integrate into the Shepherd culture and learn skills they did not gain in school,” Del Nero explains. “I also help lead emergency preparedness, teaching CPR and Advanced Cardiac Life Support. We practice mock emergencies once a month with simulation equipment and life-like mannequins that allow employees to practice these rare but high-impact scenarios in a low-risk way.”

Outside of work, Del Nero applies his focus and determination to what he affectionately refers to as his “healthy obsession” — cycling. Like nursing, he did not discover cycling until his late 20s when a friend invited him to go mountain biking, and again, he was hooked. Now he rides almost daily with a tight-knit group of fellow enthusiasts. He has competed and medaled in multiple amateur races, several of which allowed his wife and him to travel to Europe. But if you talk to Del Nero, you’d never know how accomplished he is. 

“Being into athletics isn’t part of who I am, but I found out being a thin, dorky guy works well for riding bikes!” he quips. “You try it once, and before you know it, you’re doing it every weekend!” 

Whether it’s healthcare or hobbies like cycling, Del Nero’s dedication to his passions comes down to one thing. 

“It’s the culture,” he says. “That culture of caring for people as human beings at Shepherd affects how we treat our patients and how we treat each other as colleagues. It’s rewarding to work in an environment like that.” 

Gary James, Psy.D.  
Neuropsychology Supervisor, Post-Acute Services, and Senior Advisor for APPCN Neuropsychology Fellowship

When kids think about what they want to be when they grow up, roles like doctor, astronaut, or artist usually come to mind. Hailing from an island in the Caribbean (Jamaica), Dr. Gary James says one career option that was never discussed in his family was psychology. 

“Psychology wasn’t mentioned as a career path when I was growing up,” Dr. James says. “Believe it or not, I was originally a pre-med chemistry major when I started college in Canada. But I took psychology as an elective and enjoyed it so much that I switched my major after my second year.” 

The rest, as they say, is history. Dr. James completed his undergraduate degree at McGill University and a graduate degree at Howard University in Washington, D.C., then did his doctoral work at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. During his time at Baylor, he discovered the specialized field of neuropsychology. 

“As a neuropsychologist, my job is to understand the brain/behavior relationship — how the brain affects the way people think and act,” he explains. 

At Shepherd Pathways, Shepherd Center’s comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation program for people recovering from brain injury, Dr. James focuses on how brain injury has affected his patients wholistically. 

“I’m looking at how their injury affects how they think, feel, and function, and then how we can help that patient and their family overcome those things so they can re-enter the community and get back to life as they’ve known it,” Dr. James says. “We do that via counseling and with neuropsychological testing to assess memory, attention, aspects of language, problem-solving capabilities, and other factors that impact a patient’s ability to function.” 

During the 18 years that Dr. James has worked at Pathways, Shepherd Center has evolved and grown, expanding training programs for post-doctoral fellows and students interested in learning how experts at Shepherd approach their fields. And this is where Dr. James’ passion lies. In addition to serving as the senior advisor for the neuropsychology fellowship at Shepherd, he was selected to serve on the Society for Clinical Neuropsychology’s Division 40 Education Advisory Committee, where he will explore variables impacting neuropsychology interest and training from undergraduate programs and beyond. 

“I have a strong commitment to training the next generation of neuropsychologists,” he says. “A lot of students don’t know much about neuropsychology until graduate school, and we want to change that! We’re looking at what we can do to demystify the field.” 

In addition to improving neuropsychology training as a whole, Dr. James has another mission close to his heart. 

“As a field, our providers do not match the demographics we serve. There is an underrepresentation of qualified neuropsychologists of color,” he says. “I want to facilitate greater representation and education for our younger aspiring scholars of color to know that this field exists.” 

This commitment to improving his field and advocating for important causes grew from values he learned from his family and, more specifically, from Dr. James’ late mother, Alicia James. 

“My mom is definitely the biggest influence on my life — she is my rock,” Dr. James says. “She taught me to persevere no matter what. I would not be where I am in my career without everything she provided me over the years. The journey to get here has not been without challenges, and I have often found myself pulling from that inner voice from my mom as I push through.” 

For Dr. James, that feeling of family has kept him at Shepherd for 18 years. 

“I am so encouraged when I look at how hard my colleagues work every day to support the patients and families we serve,” he explains. “I feel fulfilled, and it nourishes me to keep going.” 

Colby Higgins  
Recreation Therapy Intern and Healthcare Screener

In 2016, Colby Higgins was challenged to change the course of his life and find success in a completely new way. 

From 2011 to 2016, Higgins attended the University of North Georgia, earning a bachelor’s degree in design and technology in theater with a focus on stage management. Toward the end of his final semester, he fell from a balcony and sustained an incomplete T-4 level spinal cord injury (SCI). By May, he was a patient in Shepherd Center’s Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program. 

After three months as an inpatient, Colby spent six weeks in the SCI Day Program. He then advanced to Shepherd Center’s Beyond Therapy®, an activity-based therapy program that helps people improve their lifelong health. 

Colby saw an exercise physiologist offering a wheelchair spin class and decided to try it. 

“I started doing it once a week, and five months later, I got my own racing chair,” Higgins says. “I tried the racing chair out on a track first and then got the gusto to take it out on the road and trail. It was a long progression, but I went from doing a spin class once a week to doing 12 wheelchair races per year and joining Shepherd’s track team, the Spinners.” 

When the pandemic hit in 2020, Colby took stock of his life. Pre-pandemic, he had tried to re-enter the theater world, but there were accessibility issues with backstage work. 

“When the pandemic started, I decided I had to make a move to do something new. I was so involved with recreational therapy through Shepherd that I thought it was a good fit for something I could pursue as a career,” Higgins says.

He pursued a master’s in recreational therapy in January 2021 while also serving at Shepherd Center as a part-time health screener. For nearly two years, he worked at the welcome desk of the hospital, ensuring COVID-19 policies were followed. 

For his master’s program, Higgins needed to complete an internship to receive his Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) credential. He is currently interning in Shepherd Center’s SHARE Military Initiative, a program that provides rehabilitation to veterans and first responders who have traumatic brain injuries and co-occurring mental health concerns. 

“The SHARE population is something I’ve never worked with before, so I am being challenged. But I’ve learned sticking with your comfort zone isn’t something you should do. That’s what this internship experience is all about, and I’m learning a ton,” Higgins says. 

Higgins aims to be a recreational therapist in an environment like Shepherd’s. While his achievements are because of his tenacity, he also received a lot of support along the way. 

“I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, picking myself up after injury, and getting involved in things I’ve never done before. But, it wasn’t just me,” Higgins says. “A lot of people, including my immediate family who I’m really close with, pushed me toward trying something new with my life. And at every turn, the Shepherd staff found a way to prop me up. Whenever I expressed an interest, they were right there to support me and make sure I was successful.” 

Written by Damjana Alverson

In this issue of Spinal Column, learn more about an exciting new chapter in the life of Shepherd Center, as we commence Pursuing Possible, the most comprehensive campaign in Shepherd Center’s history. You can read more about how the campaign will transform Shepherd Center’s footprint and enhance the way we serve our patients and community for years to come.   

The magazine also includes these stories among inspiring patient profiles, event updates, honorariums, and memorials.

Growing up at Shepherd Center

Jamie Shepherd, MBA, MHA, president and chief operating officer (COO) of Shepherd Center, and Julie Shepherd, CCM, LMSW, CLCP, director of founding family relations, share their perspectives on the Pursuing Possible campaign.

Celebrating Roots – and Wings

An exquisite addition to the beloved Anna and Hays Mershon Secret Garden shows how Shepherd will continue celebrating its culture of hope, humor, and hard work as it grows and plans for the future. 

A Home Away from Home

Family housing and a committed care team enabled Maine native Chelsea Vietti to focus on life still to come.

Subscribe here for print and/or e-newsletter versions of Shepherd Center's magazine.

In this issue, Shepherd Center employees reflect on the unique paths that led them to where they are today. Whether they were patients at Shepherd first or started on one career path and ended up doing something different, each story shows the drive and passion they have to serve patients and families.

The magazine also features these stories among other patient profiles, staff highlights, honorariums and memorials:

When Dedication and Perseverance Pay Off After sustaining a spinal cord injury, Chris Bailey has made it his job to regain as much function as he can.

Shepherd Center Launches Pursuing Possible Campaign Pursuing Possible: The Campaign for Shepherd Center bolsters efforts to provide extraordinary care.

Shepherd Center's Complex Concussion Clinic This program spotlight demonstrates of the Complex Concussion Clinic provides specialized rehabilitative care for people with mild traumatic brain injuries.

From I Can't to I Can: Shawn Tyson Nearly two years after sustaining a traumatic brain injury, Shawn Tyson has made tremendous progress and plans to get back to working with cars.

You can subscribe to the print and/or e-newsletter versions of Shepherd Center's magazine here.

“I didn’t like the way they felt on my hands,” Debbie remembers. “At that point, everything was uncomfortable.” 

The therapist persuaded her to give them a try, explaining that they would help her grip, making pushing a wheelchair much easier. Debbie finally agreed and saw what a difference they made. 

“I was able to push the manual chair, and that was so empowering,” she says. “They also helped with transfers and everyday activities like dressing myself and cooking. I became a regular customer.” 

Now Debbie and her husband, Zane, make and sell the very same gloves she once wanted nothing to do with. 

Because Debbie ordered several pairs a year, she became close with the owner, Emma Howerton, who had started making the gloves for her son, also a former Shepherd Center patient. In June 2013, Debbie called to make an order and got fateful news. 

“Emma told me that she planned to retire, and she was either going to sell the company or close it,” Debbie says. “Because we knew how much these gloves can help others, we decided to buy it.” 

Zane custom makes every pair of gloves by hand with the goal of giving each customer the best fit possible. Debbie orders the supplies, processes the orders, and helps prepare the orders for shipping. 

While the gloves facilitated her mobility and independence, owning the company gave her purpose. After the accident, Debbie couldn’t help Zane with the painting and janitorial services company they have owned since 1995. 

“I was feeling lost – I wanted to do something,” Debbie says. “This made me feel like I could contribute.” 

She also supports people on the other end of the phone, especially those ordering gloves for the first time. 

“I tell them as a quadriplegic, I am a glove wearer, and these gloves enable me to be as independent as I am,” she says. “And I hear them breathe a sigh of relief. I hate that people need them, but I’m glad we can help make life a little easier for them. It’s very rewarding.”

Written by Sara Baxter

“I said, ‘I think I would,’” Bradford recalls. “I’d always drawn but designing the Mardi Gras floats really got me into painting. My dad had turned it into an art form, and I followed his lead. I’d sketch out the floats and then paint them."

The bold designs and vibrant colors of Mardi Gras captivated Bradford. Before long, he had branched out to subjects of his own choosing: wildlife, Mobile Bay waterways, and much more. He converted a room in the back of his house into a studio and began painting almost every day. A commercial real estate broker by trade, painting became Bradford’s release valve.

“What it does is give me some meditation, so to speak,” Bradford says. “When you’re drawing or painting, you unzip a bubble, step inside, and zip it up after you. You forget everything in your own little world. It’s been good for me."

On July 20, 2018, Bradford’s bubble burst.

He had taken his daughter Campbell, then 16, up to Knoxville, Tennessee, for a regional swim competition. As ever, Bradford had his sketchbook in tow. While sketching one afternoon during the trip, he experienced a stroke. He spent 10 days in Knoxville at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, then a month at Shepherd Center with a team of specialists “putting Humpty Dumpty together again,” as Bradford describes it.

The stroke didn’t impair his speech, but it did impact his memory and severely affect the right side of his body — a concerning consequence for a right-handed painter. Physical and occupational therapists at Shepherd Center’s Stroke Rehabilitation Program focused on re-training his body to achieve certain movements that would help him paint once again.

Early on, Bradford’s dad asked if there was anything he needed with him. Bradford requested a sketch pad and pencils. That sketchbook now serves as a historical document, illustrating Bradford’sprogress as he recovered from his stroke.

On August 5, Bradford scratched out a house, left-handed. It was a far cry from his true artistic abilities, but it gave him a sense of possibility. A few days later, Bradford tried drawing with his right hand for the first time. He attempted a pair of faces “that looked like a three-year-old did them,” Bradford says. But, again, the exercise motivated him, steeling his resolve.

He poured himself into his therapy, including water-color art classes through Shepherd Center’s recreational therapy programs. He did yoga there, too.

“I did everything I possibly could to push myself ahead,” Bradford says. “Shepherd Center is great at getting you to keep pushing your limits."

All along, Bradford kept filling up his sketchbook. Flip the pages, and the drawings get sharper, more detailed by the day. By the end of his stay at Shepherd Center, Bradford’s lines had shed their shakiness, and his characters had once again become recognizable. By December, Bradford painted his first post-injury drawing, adding shades of red, blue, brown, and yellow to a turkey.

“It’s funny, I think my drawings and paintings are better now,” he says. “Before, I always had to have my lines be perfect. Now, my imperfections give it more of an artistic flair."

Bradford’s once again designing Mobile’s famed floats. And last summer, he completed a series of stylized paintings of fish that are now for sale at the McCoy Outdoor Company in Mobile.

“I’m never gonna get rich off this, but maybe it’ll pay for my paints,” Bradford says with a laugh.

Written by Phillip Jordan

Julia Nieves, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2014, was looking for a way to deal with the physical and emotional challenges of living with the disease. 

She used to sew and draw when she was younger and reconnected with her creative side during the pandemic when she began working with an expressive arts therapist/coach. 

“Not only did I need an outlet to express myself, but I also wanted to create more space in my life for fun, laughter, and joy,” says Julia (who pronounces her name HOO-liah). 

In the last year, Julia has created paintings, quilts, photographs, and digital art that portray the various MS symptoms she feels, such as vertigo, “wobbliness” when walking, balance issues, and fatigue, all of which impact her daily life. She has even compiled this art onto her website, www.julianievesstudio.com. 

“Art has allowed me to make the un-seeable reality of living in my body visible first to myself and then to my family and friends,” Julia says. “Seeing a visual representation of what it feels like to be dizzy and off-balance that existed outside of my body was absolutely liberating for me! I immediately felt less alone.” 

Julia says the medium she uses on any given day depends on how she feels. On a “good day” with little fatigue and more energy, she might choose to sew or paint. On other days when she’s not feeling as strong, she usually draws, writes, or takes photos to use later in digital art. 

Being able to find solace in art is just another example of Julia’s “can do” attitude. 

When she was first diagnosed, a doctor in Raleigh, North Carolina – where she and her family lived at the time - told her that all she could hope for was to slow the “inevitable decline” due to MS. That was not a satisfactory answer for Julia. 

“I had a pity party for about a month,” Julia admits. “But then I decided I would not be in a war with my body. I started looking for a doctor who believed things were possible before they were declared impossible.” 

She found that in the staff of the Andrew C. Carlos MS Institute at Shepherd Center after she and her family moved to Atlanta in 2016. 

“Shepherd Center is a community of compassionate, innovative, and skilled people who believe in and work for miraculous transformation on behalf of the people they serve,” Julia says. “It is an amazing place.”

Written by Sara Baxter

Yet, for Dominic Pedrotty, 25, those were the last two classes he needed to complete his mechanical engineering degree from Virginia Tech. And he did it, walking across the stage to receive his diploma on December 17, 2021. 

“It wasn’t something I was sure I could accomplish, and it was surreal to finally be done despite everything I had been through,” Dominic says. 

What he had been through was three years of recovery and rehabilitation from a devastating car crash. 

On May 31, 2018, Dominic – who had just completed his junior year at Virginia Tech – was driving through Tennessee with his older sister when, without warning, he experienced a brain aneurysm. Doctors would later determine the aneurysm burst, which caused Dominic to lose consciousness and cross paths with a semi-truck. The collision killed his sister instantly. Dominic was transferred to Holsten Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tennessee, where he spent five weeks. 

After leaving the hospital in Tennessee, Dominic transferred to Shepherd Center’s Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program, where he spent five months working on balance, vision and mobility issues, and memory loss, among other physical goals. 

Through it all, Dominic never lost sight of returning to Virginia Tech and finishing his degree – he just wasn’t sure it would be possible. 

“With my memory issues, I didn’t think I would be able to retain the information necessary to complete the courses,” he says. 

But in fall 2019, Dominic returned to school, at first doing much of it remotely. His professors at Virginia Tech accommodated all of his needs. In the last semester, when he needed to be on campus, his parents moved with him to Blacksburg, where the three of them lived in a hotel until graduation. 

Now armed with his degree, Dominic is looking toward his future. Though he still hopes to go into the field of agricultural engineering, for now, he is focusing on physical therapy and continuing to make improvements. He’s currently working two days a week at a greenhouse. 

“My inspiration stems from the realization that my struggle and my success are for a purpose,” he says. “That I had a goal and a little thing like a brain injury could not stop me.”

Written by Sara Baxter

“I felt like something was wrong with my brain,” he remembers. “I was not myself.”

Three years ago, Brent took a job as a program manager at Camp Southern Ground, an organization that does a summer camp for children and programs for veterans during the rest of the year. As he started to talk to other veterans, he discovered that his symptoms were not unique. Through those conversations, he learned about Shepherd Center’s SHARE Military Initiative, a comprehensive rehabilitation program that delivers world-class treatment at no cost to veterans, service members, and first responders. He was accepted into the program in the summer of 2021.

The SHARE doctors determined that most of Brent’s symptoms – including the personality changes – resulted from a traumatic brain injury (TBI). He now traces that injury back to his days in the Marines when he was working on the range and was hit in the head when the gate of a dump truck swung open. He was knocked unconscious, but he shook off medical help.

“It went undiagnosed for more than 10 years,” he says. “It had been a long journey trying to get help."

At Shepherd Center, he worked on balance, vision correction, frustration tolerance, and ways to improve his sleep. He’s noticed that he no longer snaps at people, and he has better relationships with those he loves, including his wife and daughter.

When he returned to work, he developed a program for veterans that emphasizes emotional wellness. He’s also become more involved in his community, joining a church and finding ways to volunteer.

“I am a different person with a new attitude,” he says. “SHARE gave me the confidence to share who I am rather than who I think I should be. It helped me see myself without a negative filter. What they did for me was so impactful.”

Written by Sara Baxter

In this issue, former Shepherd Center patients share how they discovered, or recovered, a love for art through their rehabilitation. Whether it serves as a way to gain confidence, chronicle their rehabilitation progress, or relieve anxiety, art is a driving force in each of these individuals' lives. Capt. Theresa Reer, a U.S. Army veteran who participated in Shepherd Center's SHARE Military Initiative, discovered art forms like pottery helped her channel her emotions in a positive way. After having a stroke, Bradford Ladd documented his progress during rehabilitation with his sketchbook. Finally, Antavious Morgan was unsure what life would be like post-spinal cord injury. With help from art therapy and a newfound love of painting, he found a new source of motivation and encouragement.

The magazine also features these stories among other patient profiles, staff highlights, honorariums, and memorials:

Feeding Mind, Body, and Soul Alexandra Chukabarah, MS, arts specialist at Shepherd Center, explains how art therapy helps patients reach their goals.

Adding a Splash of Color – and a Message of Hope – to the Walls of Shepherd Center Thanks to a generous donor, Shepherd Center staff and patients created a large mural in the Livingston Gym dedicated to sharing a message of hope.

Learning to Play a New Tune Thanks to help from Shepherd Center’s Assistive Technology Center and his therapy team, Clevance Weekes returned to playing the piano after sustaining a spinal cord injury.

“Eclectic on Purpose” The halls and walls of Shepherd Center are filled with an extensive collection of art, providing something for everybody.

You can subscribe to the print and/or e-newsletter versions of Shepherd Center's magazine here.

"Art has been my saving grace,” she says. “No matter what I’m feeling, I can put that into my art, into my sculptures, or onto paper, and it’s OK. I’m able to channel my emotions and release them in a positive way.”

Theresa, now 48, made her first drawings and paintings during her three years as a patient at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. As a medical specialist officer attached to the 3rd Infantry Division in Afghanistan, Theresa had sustained serious injuries to her left hip and pelvis, and endured subsequent complications. She used a wheelchair for nearly two years as a result. 

In addition to her visible injuries, Theresa had also experienced two traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) that led to expressive aphasia — great difficulty in speaking and finding the right words to use when she could speak. 

Art often served as her only form of expression.

“I didn’t have a voice, literally, to talk through the things I needed to back then,” she says.“There was a lot of stuff I wasn’t dealing with about losing comrades on the battlefield and the survivor’s guilt that comes with that. So, I communicated through art how I was feeling.”

As Theresa progressed, contacts in the Wounded Warrior Project and the Semper Fi & America’s Fund pointed her toward the SHARE Military Initiative at Shepherd Center. Here, specialists addressed concerns related to her TBIs, including vestibular issues affecting her balance and speech. SHARE’s comprehensive rehabilitation program delivers world-class treatment that makes a world of difference, at no cost to veterans, service members, and first responders who, like Theresa, are dealing with post-traumatic stress and may need other mental health services.

“From the very beginning, I felt like I was part of the family there,” Theresa says. “The SHARE team made me feel welcome, and it was comfortable being in a program with other veterans. It was the first time I felt like a lot of my vestibular problems, and mental health needs, were being understood and addressed.”

As part of her SHARE experience, Theresa pursued every recreational therapy opportunity she could at Shepherd Center, from musical therapy to swimming with sharks at the Georgia Aquarium.

But it was the art therapy classes that proved most transformative. Theresa made bowls, mugs, and more in her first introduction to the pottery wheel. And she learned how peaceful and restorative horticulture could be as she built terrariums and sculpted decorative plants.

“The greatest thing about SHARE is they expose you to a lot of different options, so you can find what’s therapeutic for you,” Theresa says. “When you’re recovering from injuries, you often lose confidence in your ability to do a lot of things. The SHARE staff encourages you to focus on your abilities rather than your limitations. I felt empowered to try new things and find a sense of purpose in this new life of mine.”

Theresa, now medically retired from the Army, is taking her artistic pursuits to the next level. She was accepted to a three-week visual art program through CreatiVets, in partnership with The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Southern California.

She’s also taking time to reflect. When Theresa pulls out her earliest artwork from Walter Reed, she sees lots of grays and blacks, a cloak of shadowy colors on her canvases.

“I look at those now, and I think, ‘Wow, I was in a really dark place,’” she says. “But that was OK for then. That’s what I needed to work through. When I look at my work now, and from my time in the SHARE program, I see pieces that are full of color. They symbolize the progression in my recovery.

“Life might look different now, but it can also look brighter.”

Written by Phillip Jordan

To refuel his own tank, Antavious, 32, kept up a passion project, one that allowed him to tap into his creative side.

“I love hip-hop,” he says. “I performed, I recorded, I did it as much as I could. That was my thing.”

The music stopped on the morning of June 13, 2019. Antavious was out on a delivery driving through Mt. Airy, Georgia, when the brakes in his box truck went out. The truck ran off the road, struck a ditch, and shot down an embankment, coming to a stop on a parallel parkway only after running through a power pole with enough steam to pull the pole right out of the ground.

First responders transported Antavious to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, where he was told he had a C-6-to-C-7 spinal cord injury. About three weeks later, he made it to Shepherd Center, where he started physical and occupational therapy in the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program.

“I was pretty down and stressed about what I could do moving forward,” Antavious says. Because of his injury, he is unable to walk and has minimal ability to move his hands and arms.

Antavious credits his case manager, Brandi Milford, and his occupational therapist, Abby Baker, MOT, OTL, CAPS, with helping him look ahead — and for pointing him toward recreational therapy options. Shepherd Center’s recreational therapy programs, which are donor-funded, help patients regain skills and confidence, and discover new interests, too. Antavious learned to play quad rugby, took horticulture classes, and worked out in the ProMotionFitness Center.

He also signed up for a painting class taught by Shepherd Center Arts Specialist Alexandra Chukabarah, MS. Little did he know just how life-changing that decision would be.

“Alex was awesome,” Antavious says. “If you don’t think you can do something, she can bring it out of you. She’s got that skill. If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t be into art like I am now.”

Painting allowed Antavious to challenge himself physically while healing emotionally.

It’s therapeutic in both ways,” he says. “Physically, it works my muscles, helps my hands and fingers. Mentally, it’s an escape. Art real quickly gave me a sense of peace. It relieved my stress, increased my focus. It was a new creative outlet for me, beyond music."

As Antavious continues his physical therapy, he’s sustained his artistry, too. After returning home, one of his first purchases was for canvases, paintbrushes, and paint.

“The more I paint, the more I feel like I can really see a vision for what I’m creating,” Antavious says. “I can sit down, sketch something out, and start painting what I seein my mind.”

His pursuit of art also gives him the confidence to reconsider his future. He’s thinking about art school, where he could combine his longtime love of music and his newfound passion for art. He’s happy his nieces and nephews see the work he’s putting in, too, and the new dreams he’s cultivating.

Antavious also has a secret wish up his sleeve. At Shepherd Center, he recalls that one of the things that motivated him was the artwork in the buildings.

"You look all around, even up at the ceilings while you’re working out, and there are motivational drawings and motivational messages everywhere,” he says. “Those were really touching. They make you want to keep going, keep pushing. To be honest, seeing all those is what made me get into the art classes.

“I’d love to contribute something up on the walls or ceiling at Shepherd Center someday. Help someone else to keep pushing. Inspire them to get in touch with their creative side. Even if you don’t do great at art, trying won’t hurt. And you never know what it might stir inside.”

Written by Phillip Jordan

I have been an arts specialist at Shepherd for seven years in the Recreation Therapy Department. I work with my colleagues to tailor treatment interventions for each patient I see to meet their needs and goals.

Q: How did you know you wanted to do this as a career?

I initially got into art during high school. I took a darkroom photography class and noticed how it helped me with my own anxieties. While volunteering at a VA medical center, I saw someone with quadriplegia paint using a brush in his mouth for the first time. Helping him do that really opened my mind – it was amazing to see how creating art pieces gave the veterans such a sense of accomplishment. That experience inspired me to pursue my master’s in art therapy and work at Shepherd Center!

Q: What types of patients do you see?

I see patients across Shepherd Center’s programs including spinal cord injury, brain injury, the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Unit, SHARE Military Initiative, and outpatient programs. I’ve also had the opportunity to lead art clinics in the community.

Q: Why is art therapy beneficial to patients?

It’s beneficial in a lot of different ways.

• Patients work toward their physical and functional goals. For example, for a patient with quadriplegia, we work on strengthening the upper body and improving fine motor skills through activities like painting, photography, and working with clay. For patients with cognitive goals, we can work on sequencing where we think through what steps are required to complete a task, like painting a ceramic mug. These activities give the person an opportunity to apply what they are learning in therapy to something concrete.
• It helps patients find something meaningful to do. The process of creating something from nothing in art can be really empowering. Often, a patient will come to me thinking they can’t do something, like painting a picture. After I show them a couple of tips, they surprise themselves with what they can accomplish and then feel encouraged to try other things, whether that’s art or something totally different.
• It provides a moment of relaxation in my patients’ days. After a busy therapy day, many people tell me that coming down to a creative and quiet space is a chance for them to re-center themselves.

Q: What do you love most about your job?

I love spending time with my patients and getting to know them as people. As much as I give to them, they give back to me. Being able to introduce them to this creative process and watch that unfold in each of their unique, beautiful ways is so rewarding. It feeds my soul.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ALEX
EDUCATION

• Georgia State University 
  • Bachelor’s degree in Art and Art History
  • Queen Margaret University Master’s degree in Art Psychotherapy

FUN FACTS

• Alex attended a two-year master’s program in Scotland.
• She has a dog named Alfie who she says is the sweetest Pitbull you’ll ever meet.
• Alex started playing the ukulele last year.

“It’s eclectic on purpose,” says Shepherd Center Co-Founder Alana Shepherd, who has had a hand in almost every piece of art coming into the hospital, knowing where it is located and the story behind it.

Shepherd Center is filled with paintings, sculptures, murals, and photographs. Some have been on the walls or on display since the Shepherd Building opened in1982. Others have been added over the years. They are by famous artists and local artists. Most of the artwork has been donated – either by the artist or a collector. Some generous donors have commissioned works of art for Shepherd Center.

The art collection started as the vision of Alana Shepherd and Lindsey Hopkins, who was president of Shepherd Center in 1982 when the hospital moved to its current location on Peachtree Road. He and Alana oversaw the collection of art.

“He helped acquire the art, and he had a lot of good ideas,” Alana says. “We have built on that since we’ve started. Sometimes we go to the artists and ask, but mostly they come to us.”

Some of the first art on the walls was a collection of Audubon prints donated by Charles West, a collector of bird prints. With 103 pieces, it’s the biggest display at ShepherdCenter. There’s also a collection of folk art donated by well-known collector Bill Arnett and his brother. Jacque Rubel created two miniature rooms displayed inboxes adorning the walls. Artist and former Georgia First Lady, the late Betty Foy Sanders, gave Alana one of her paintings that now hangs in the Callaway Auditorium. Shepherd donor and Atlanta philanthropist Mickey Loudermilk Webb commissioned a series of three murals painted by Georgia artist Henry Barnes on the walls of the cafeteria. There is art in every corner of Shepherd Center – including the Livingston Gym, 40 mounted trophy fish in the pool area, and even high above where patients have painted ceiling tiles.

At the center of the art collection is the desire for patients and families to have something appealing to look at as they roam through Shepherd Center. The art can also serve as a source of inspiration.

“As they wheel and walk around the hospital, we want there to be something that catches their eye,” Alana says. “The pieces won’t appeal to everybody, but they will appeal to somebody.”

While the mix is eclectic, a lot of thought goes into where each piece is placed.

“We’ll put colorful, motivating pieces in the gym, for example,” says Wilma Bunch, vice president of patient experience at Shepherd Center, who also helps oversee the placement, “and more calming, soothing pieces in the acquired brain injury unit.”

Some of Alana’s favorites include a large 10-foot painting done by Atlanta artist Steve Penley and an imaginary map made out of ceramic by Gregor Turk. There is also work by Howard Finster and Mose Tolliver. 

The art even extends outside the doors of Shepherd Center. At the entrance to the building, there is a sculpture of a former patient and athlete Terry Lee throwing a javelin that was commissioned by former board member Jim Caswell.

The sculpture was created by artist Ed Dwight – who did the sculptures of Hank Aaron and Phil Niekro that were fixtures at Turner Field – and serves as an inspiration to patients as they drive up to Shepherd Center’s doors. The gardens are also filled with fountains, sculptures, and other pieces of art that patients and families can enjoy while outside.

“I hope the art sets a healing tone,” Alana says. “It certainly makes the hospital look less like a hospital. People are always taking time to look at the art, which is what we want them to do.”

Written by Sara Baxter