Taking Off

It took paramedics 20 minutes to find Jeff Richmond’s body after he was thrown from a car in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He was almost pronounced dead at the scene before a paramedic spotted his eyelids fluttering. They immediately life-flighted him to HCA Florida Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville. 

Years earlier, Jeff had sold an asphalt paver to late Shepherd Center co-founder Harold Shepherd, who gave him a tour of Shepherd. Jeff’s family remembered him talking about a hospital that fostered “miracles upon miracles.” So, once he was stabilized, Shepherd Center felt like an obvious choice for his treatment. 

Jeff arrived at Shepherd in a state of minimal consciousness. When his mom reflects on his first few months at Shepherd, she says, “Yeah, you were 41, but it was like you were my 4-month-old child again.” His background as a Marine Corps veteran, however, helped him push through even the biggest challenges in rehab. With the help of his care team, he relearned how to breathe, swallow, and speak on his own. 

After completing the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program, Jeff moved to Shepherd Pathways, a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation program for people recovering from brain injury. He went from using a wheelchair to a walker to walking with no support at all. After Pathways, he continued outpatient rehabilitation closer to home at Siskin Hospital in Tennessee. 

After Siskin, however, Jeff stopped treatment for a year. Some of the abilities he worked to restrengthen, like his memory and ability to multitask, regressed. That’s when Jeff heard from a representative from SHARE Military Initiative at Shepherd Center, which provides rehabilitation for military veterans, service members, and first responders with traumatic brain injuries and mental health concerns. SHARE gave him what he was missing — not just rehabilitation but a community to share his thoughts, challenges, and successes. The program reminded Jeff that there’s no finish line for brain injury rehabilitation. 

“The best way to sum it up is to tell people I’m like an airplane, only I don’t have a cruising altitude,” he says. “I’m either taking off, or I’m crashing.” 

It’s clear that now, Jeff is taking off. Since graduating from SHARE, Jeff lives independently, drives, volunteers, and speaks out about brain injuries, even appearing on his local news station. 

“I want to share my story so that others with a brain injury can see that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” Jeff says. “I'm not even supposed to be alive, yet I live in an apartment by myself. I drive again. I love to share my story to give hope and inspiration.” 

Written by Erin Kenney