Routine Check-Up Leads to Heart Transplant for Young Girl

It was just a typical checkup until Kelsey Brackett’s pediatrician heard a heart murmur. Two months later, the 9-year-old girl learned she needed a new heart.

It was an outcome Gainesville residents Zach and Sonja Brackett could have never imagined when they said I do 23 years ago.

They dreamed of becoming parents and were elated to welcome their first daughter, Jordan, now 21. They hoped to give her a sibling close in age, but they struggled with fertility issues. When they were able to get pregnant again, they were doubly blessed with twins. It was a high-risk pregnancy, but Sonja made it to 36 weeks and three days before their identical girls, Kelsey and Kinsley, arrived on July 9, 2015.

In August 2024, the twins, fourth graders at Sardis Elementary School, saw their pediatrician, Dr. Heather Butler, for their annual well-child visit. During Kelsey’s exam, the doctor asked Kelsey to repeatedly lie down and sit up, over and over again, as she listened to the child’s heart with a stethoscope.

“She heard a big murmur,” said Zach, 45, emergency management director for Hall County. “She referred us to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta cardiology and told us not to worry, that 99% of the time it’s benign.”

The Bracketts weren’t overly concerned when they took Kelsey to the cardiologist in early September, but they left the office dazed. After an EKG and echocardiogram, Kelsey was diagnosed with severe mitral valve regurgitation, a condition in which the mitral valve does not close properly, allowing blood to flow backward into the heart.

Concerned that Kelsey’s twin might have the same issue, Sonja and Zach took Kinsley to the cardiologist a few weeks later. She was diagnosed with the same valve issue, but hers was not as progressed as her sister’s. She will be monitored every six months.

Meanwhile, Kelsey needed surgery to either repair her mitral valve or replace it — the decision would be made during the operation.

“It was gut-wrenching and scary to think of this tiny little girl, who barely weighs 45 pounds, going through a surgery like that,” said Sonja, 51. “What do I tell her? What does this mean for her future?”

While the concept of heart surgery was abstract for Kelsey, she did have questions. Would she have a scar? Would it hurt? But mostly she was just upset that she wouldn’t get to go trick-or-treating.

“She’s very smart and we didn’t want to lie to her about anything,” said Zach. “Nine-year-olds typically equate medical pain to a shot or a finger prick, so we did our best and even drew a picture to try to explain open-heart surgery to our little girl.”

Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Fawwaz Shaw performed surgery in late October. The valve had to be replaced. Shaw told the Bracketts Kelsey’s heart function was less than he had hoped. Two weeks later, she wasn’t improving.

“They wanted to wean her off her meds, but her heart just couldn’t keep up,” said Zach. “She was very fatigued because she didn’t have the cardiac output to supply blood to her organs, which made her nauseated and tired. That’s when conversations about a transplant began.”

Too ill to go home, Kelsey remained at the hospital and was placed on the heart transplant list in late November.

According to Dr. Shaw, 500 to 600 pediatric heart transplants are performed annually in the United States. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta typically does between 13 and 15 a year. With older children it is possible to use adult hearts for transplants, but donor hearts from children or young adults are typically utilized at Children’s, because of the size of the patients’ chests. The one-year survival rate after transplant is 90%; the five-year survival rate is over 80%. Children’s survival rates have historically exceeded the national average.

By December, Kelsey’s condition had worsened. Their plans for a December cruise long forgotten, the Bracketts planned to celebrate Christmas together at their home away from home, Children’s Healthcare. Kinsley was even approved to sleep over with her sister after spending six weeks apart. But on Christmas Eve, Kelsey worsened and was transferred back to the intensive care unit.

It was a dark time for the family, but there were moments of joy, too.

“We did get New Year’s Eve though,” said Sonja. “Kinsley got to stay with us at Children’s, and we spun the chairs around in Kelsey’s room where we could see multiple fireworks displays out the window.”

Another bright spot was when Kelsey’s beloved French bulldog, Quinn, got to visit. Her spirit was buoyed, even as her health continued to decline.

By late January, Kelsey was gravely ill. Staff members feared she might have mere days left, but a life-changing call came through on Jan. 30. A heart was available for transplant.

“You’re so thankful when you get that call, but you know what it means,” said Zach. “You feel selfish for feeling grateful, understanding that someone else has lost a loved one. The gravity of that is pretty heavy.”

After 98 days in the hospital, Shaw replaced Kelsey’s faulty heart with a new one, but first, her mother prayed over her daughter, as she’d done for months.

“Throughout the process I put my faith in God and asked for a miracle, but when you see your baby wheeled away like that, you understand it might be the last time you see them alive,” said Sonja.

The Bracketts were reunited with their daughter around midnight and instantly noticed the color had reappeared in her face, her lips a brilliant red. The surgery was a success.

Two weeks later she was discharged.

“It was just Kelsey and I on the drive home and she was in awe, pointing out school buses saying, ‘Look there’s another and another,’” said Zach. “She wasn’t pointing out anything extraordinary, but it hit me: This girl hasn’t been outside in months. She hasn’t seen anything beyond her window.”

Today Kelsey is back to her funny, joyful self, but the family is still adjusting to their new routines. Kelsey will require medicines at least twice a day for the rest of her life to keep her body from rejecting her new heart. She will undergo constant labs and tests. And one day, she may require another transplant.

“The expectation is that she will live a long, healthy life and do all the things she wants to do,” said Shaw. “Heart transplantations in this era can last multiple decades, but it’s rare that they last forever. The big key is compliance. Often with kids, as they approach the age of 18, they get busy and stop taking their meds. That’s the biggest problem we face is kids remaining compliant.”

On Valentine’s Day, the day after Kelsey was released from the hospital, the Brackett family returned for Lights of Love. It’s an event in which patients shine flashlights out their windows to friends and family gathered outside who shine flashlights back in return as a show of support. The Bracketts expected to participate from inside the hospital but were grateful to stand outside, shining their light on the place that held them and cared for them for 108 harrowing days.

Six months after a transplant, organ recipients and their families are typically permitted to contact the organ donor’s family through a process coordinated by the transplant hospital and the organ procurement organization. One day the Bracketts hope to find out whose heart is beating in Kelsey’s chest. They want the donor’s family to meet Kelsey, and they want the opportunity to say thank you for saving their little girl’s life.

Sandra Stanley and Allie Stanley Cooney Meet in the Middle on Faith-Based Book for Mothers and Daughters

Eleven years ago, Sandra Stanley turned the corner into her daughter Allie Stanley Cooney’s messy bedroom, prepared to ask her to clean it up, when she discovered her then 18-year-old sitting on the floor writing. It’s a poignant memory for Stanley, one of the last she has of Allie in her childhood bedroom before she headed off to college. It was also a moment that, unbeknownst to them at the time, planted seeds for the book they would eventually co-author, “Meet Me in the Middle: 8 Mother-Daughter Conversations about Life and Faith” (Zondervan, $19.99), published last August.

As Mother’s Day approaches, the mother-daughter duo takes comfort in the close relationship they’ve nurtured, one that continues to grow and deepen as their family expands. The lessons they’ve learned along the way are reflected in “Meet Me in the Middle.”

This isn’t Stanley’s first book. The wife of Andy Stanley, founder and senior pastor of North Point Ministries, a nondenominational megachurch with several campuses across north metro Atlanta, Sandra, 58, has written a couple of 28-day devotionals and cowritten a book on parenting with her husband. But she always knew she wanted to write a book with her daughter.

“I recognized in Allie as a young teen that she had an amazing proclivity for writing and creating content,” said Sandra. “We just had to wait for the right timing.”

As it turned out, the right time was in 2022, soon after Allie and her husband Clay Cooney, a young adults pastor at North Point Community Church, welcomed their first child, daughter Haven.

When Haven was just a few days old, Cooney recalls holding her and saying to her mother with awe, You’ve loved me this much the whole time?

“It was a moment of realizing how much I wanted to get it right with my daughter, and I wanted to help others get it right, too,” said Cooney, a stay-at-home mom who lives in Marietta.

It turns out, the piece Cooney was writing on her bedroom floor that day 11 years ago would become part of “Meet Me in the Middle.”

Titled “Allie’s Rules for High School,” it’s a list of 20 guidelines she composed to help girls have a successful, enjoyable high school experience. It includes advice like, “If you’re wondering if you should break up with him, break up with him.” And “Selfies are for faces.”

Same topics, different perspectives

The list appears in the book, which features a “For Moms” section written by Stanley, and a “For Daughters” section written by Cooney. Both sections include eight chapters that cover the same topics, but from different perspectives. The faith-based book is written for preteens and teenage girls, and their mothers, with the goal of facilitating dialogue on identity, friendships, stress and fear. And it includes activities that mothers and daughters “meet in the middle” to complete.

Like her parents, Cooney is a natural-born leader. An alumna of Auburn University and Dallas Theological Seminary (where Stanley also got a degree after attending Georgia Tech), Cooney worked in student ministry for six years. While she was a student at Milton High School, she led a small group of middle school girls at church, helping them navigate issues preteen and teen girls face. The experience helped inform “Meet Me in the Middle.”

While their respective chapters, Stanley and Cooney discovered they approached their writing in totally different ways. Stanley preferred quiet spaces and took up to two weeks to draft a chapter, while Allie preferred bustling coffee shops where she could knock out a chapter in two hours.

As the two swapped prose and bounced content ideas around, memories bubbled up from Allie’s younger years.

“Raising a girl was different, especially with her being the youngest and having two older brothers,” said Stanley, who has two sons, Garrett and Andrew. “As a mom, you witness the hormone stuff differently with each of them. One went quiet, another would be more emotive and come out with rage, and with Allie, she wanted to talk about what she was feeling and there were occasional tears.”

Allie, smiling, is quick to add, “I’ve just always had a lot of feelings.”

The two were mindful in their writing to create conversations between mothers and daughters, as opposed to moms preaching to their children.

“A parenting fail of mine when Allie was a teen was that I wanted to make everything a teachable moment,” said Sandra. “Then one day, while riding in the car, Allie confessed that sometimes she didn’t want to ask me a question because I’d give her more information than necessary. It was a super helpful wake-up call for me, and I got better. In our book, we encourage moms to be vulnerable with their daughters. The goal is to provide an opportunity for intentionality and connection.”

Andy Stanley, who has authored more than 20 books, is among the mother-daughter writing team’s biggest fans, naturally.

“I’ve had a front-row seat as two very different personalities have successfully navigated their differences to create a mother-daughter relationship that is remarkable,” he said. “They know what they’re talking about.”

Becoming a mother and a grandmother

Stanley and Cooney don’t currently have plans to write another book, but they’d like to in the future. In the meantime, they’re eagerly awaiting Allie’s second child, a boy due in July, the same month Andrew is expecting his first baby.

“Becoming a grandmother is not overrated,” said Sandra, who is also grandmother, or “Deeda,” as she is called, to Garrett’s daughter, Reese. “When you hear people talk about how wonderful it is, they’re right. I enjoy them so much, and I don’t feel the weight of turning them into great humans like I did with my own.”

As for becoming a mother, Allie, who has her mother’s brown eyes and passed them on to her own little girl, said it’s brought so much into focus.

“I realize now how much my mom has carried this whole time, being in charge of so much, and we, as kids, receive it all,” said Allie. “Now being a mom and doing the planning and all the thinking ahead, it creates more appreciation for my mom who was always making things special, homeschooling us and giving us an education and cooking healthy food.”

Sandra remembers feeling the same appreciation for her mom when she became a mother.

“I would call her to apologize and thank her for so many things during those early years,” she said.

Sandra and Allie will spend Mother’s Day weekend together traveling to Visalia, California, to speak about “Meet Me in the Middle” at a mother/daughter event but will return in time to gather with the whole family after church on Sunday.

Before “Meet Me in the Middle” was released last August, Allie made a post on Instagram to answer the question, “How is it writing a book with your mom?” She replied that it was a lot like being raised by her.

“She pushed me and challenged me and ultimately made me a better human and mom throughout this process,” Allie wrote. “My mom is someone who champions others, is remarkably patient and deeply wise. So, writing a book with her and being raised by her was simply a joy.”


Father of Six (and Owner of Lots of Goats) Makes Comedic Dreams Come True

If comedian Ed Wiley were to write a memoir, he’d choose the title “How to Follow Your Dreams … in Reverse.” It would tell the story of a boy who fell in love with comedy at age 8 but didn’t pursue it professionally until he was a 40-year-old husband and father of six living on a farm in Tifton.

It was a medical crisis that caused Wiley, whose full-time career is in software technology, to refine his perspective on life and feel brave enough to leap into comedy. With his family’s full support, the fear of failure was eclipsed by excitement, and the reward continues to prove it was worth the risk.

Wiley, 50, was raised in Albany by his mom, who worked as a secretary for Easter Seals. At 8 years old, he would do impressions of her co-workers, which always made her laugh. He was a class clown, too, who specialized in doing impersonations of teachers. He learned quickly that he could use humor to get himself out of trouble.

While studying information systems and management at Georgia Tech, Ed met his bride, Annie, who was a student at Georgia Baptist College of Nursing (now part of Mercer University) at church. Ed proposed after dating Annie for six months and they said ‘I do’ six months after that. Within a year they had their first child and then, as Ed puts it, they just kept having children.

“I told Annie early on that I’d have as many as she wanted to have,” said Ed. “Maybe I didn’t know she’d want to go to six but, after our sixth was born, she said, ‘OK I’m done.’ When you get past six you go from a minivan to a church van. We got to keep our Odyssey.”

Ed and Annie, who worked as a nurse before she became a stay-at-home mom and homeschooler, lived all over metro Atlanta, from Brookhaven to Paulding County, renting homes and raising a family, but they wanted to get back to their roots. They both grew up poor and craved a simpler life for their kids in a slow-paced environment. Sixteen years ago, they found their paradise: a brick ranch home on a 46-acre farm in Tifton.

“It sounds grand, but, financially, a small farm in South Georgia was an even swap for a house in the suburbs of Atlanta,” said Ed. “Acreage sounds like old money, but I promise we’re not. We need all-new plumbing.”

Annie was excited to have goats. They got two, and two quickly became 60.

“The goat population got out of hand. It was a slow realization of how not Amish we are,” joked Ed. “We still have a dozen goats, but it’s more like an assisted living situation, as they’re all pretty old. We also have a cow. My one advice to you would be, ‘Don’t name your cow. Just don’t do it.’ But Rose was delicious.”

About 13 years ago, Ed stepped on a large, rusty nail on the farm, then had a severe reaction to the antibiotic he was given to treat the wound. One day his calves were in pain just from walking up a slight incline, the next day he couldn’t hold his dental floss. The medicine systematically attacked all the tissue in his body, setting off a series of gastrointestinal, neurological, and cardiac issues. He spent time at the Mayo Clinic and learned it was all a freak incident, no diagnosis given. His body just needed time for the effects of the medicine to subside.

“It was a transformative time that led to a spiritual epiphany,” said Ed. “I was in a hospital having all these health problems, when I felt the Lord take away all my bitterness, all insignificant worries, and suddenly, I no longer felt bound by fear of any kind.”

Grateful for a second chance at life and a healthy body, Ed started to look at life with a renewed perspective. He wanted to live without regrets and take risks. He wanted to do the thing he’d always loved but never considered trying. He wanted to become a comedian.

With six kids and a full-time job in software technology, finding time for comedy seemed preposterous, but Annie gave him the nudge he needed.

“He had been through a tough time, and I felt like he was finally pursuing something he could really love,” said Annie. “I had believed for years that he is very talented and needed to use his talents to benefit others. He has always made friends, family, and co-workers laugh. He loves the art of stand-up, and it’s amazing to watch someone find the thing they are truly passionate about.”

Wiley had a George Bush impression that he’d tried out when his boss asked him to open company meetings. He started writing more bits, funny stories about his life with six kids and living on a farm in rural Georgia.

Whenever his busy schedule allowed, he’d drive to Atlanta to perform at open mics at places like Jerry Farber’s Side Door at Landmark Diner and the Punchline.

“The first step was going into a comedy club with what I thought was funny stuff, realizing that it wasn’t funny, and trying again,” said Ed. “I was and am a super clean comic. They’d sometimes call me Christian Ed Yankovic.”

After performing at a fundraising gig for a ministry at a little theater in Canton, Ed got his big break. Comedian Anita Renfroe, who was in the audience, invited Ed to open for her show. He said yes and went from audiences of 100 to audiences of 2,000 as he traveled around the country.

He also had a couple of posts go viral on Facebook, which led to even more nationwide bookings. One of those viral posts was a photo of a Lynyrd Skynyrd cassette tape his daughter found by a creek on the farm. Ed posted the photo and, in the caption. wrote “Our kids found this and asked if it was from the Civil War.” The post was so wildly popular that even the band’s official Lynyrd Skynyrd Instagram account commented.

The next year he posted another video on Facebook, a bit titled “If Trump were on staff at your church,” that garnered 8 million views. A big crowd pleaser was Ed’s joke, “Make Lock-Ins Great Again,” referring to youth group overnight events held at churches.

“I’ve always endeavored to do impressions of political figures without being political,” said Ed.

Ed involves his family in his comedy, from incorporating them into his act, to bringing them along on the road and writing bits together, as much as he can. Without their interest and support, he said, none of the comedy success would be as great.

“Family life trumps professional success all day long. Because I have them, I feel like I have nothing to lose and can try anything,” said Ed. “Not all shows are great, not even at the highest level of comedy, but I’m not afraid of that, because that’s not where my self-worth and identity come from.”

Ed hopes that he will continue booking gigs with companies, churches and comedy clubs across the nation and, on the homefront, is thinking of starting a bingo night for his senior citizen goats.



Jon Clark Celebrates 20 Years of Easter Tradition, Giving Hope to Patients and Families at Grady

Photo contributed by Jenni Girtman

Jon Clark was a University of Georgia sophomore in 2005, chaperoning a group of middle school boys from Mount Bethel Church of Marietta at a YoungLife camp in Jasper over spring break, when his life changed forever.

During breakfast, he told the youth minister that he didn’t get much sleep the night before and had a migraine. Someone at the camp gave him Tylenol and the last thing he remembers is falling out of his chair onto the floor where he had a seizure.

“Then I didn’t wake up for about five weeks,” said Clark, 40.

He was airlifted to Grady, and after a CT scan, was diagnosed with a grade 5 brain aneurysm, the most severe of its kind. He needed a craniectomy immediately. After a portion of his skull was removed to relieve pressure on the brain from the bleed, he was placed in an induced coma to heal.

Doctors told Clark’s family that if he survived, he could remain in a vegetative state.

“I stayed at Grady for a month and remember nothing of it,” said Clark. “My family essentially lived there with me in the ICU.”

Easter is traditionally a big holiday in the Clark family, typically celebrated with egg hunts and a big meal. So when the holiday rolled around while Clark was hospitalized, his aunts were determined to honor the tradition and ensure no one felt alone.

“I and two of Jon’s other aunts did what Southern women do best. We brought food,” said Jane Clark, Jon’s aunt on his father’s side. “It was a scary time, and we didn’t know what would happen. We wanted to show love as best we could, and we wanted to bring comfort.

“We brought Kentucky Fried Chicken, deviled eggs, potato salad, desserts, my sister’s signature pimento cheese and sweet tea. We spread out all the food for our family, the nurses and for the other families who had loved ones in the ICU.”

Leaning on his faith

After his stint at Grady, Clark was transferred to Shepherd Center. A week or two later, he began to emerge from a medical haze and found himself in a hospital room wearing a foam helmet and unable to move his left arm or leg.

“My fraternity brothers were there when I came to,” said Clark. “They were shaking my hand and saying they were happy to see me. I had no idea what I was doing there. People told me to get better and I asked, ‘Get better from what? And what about finals for the spring semester?‘”

A member of Mount Bethel Church, Clark leaned on his faith to get through those challenging days at Shepherd Center. He drew strength from the verse Joshua 1:9 ― “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Clark stayed at Shepherd for nine weeks, working to regain mobility and learn how to use a wheelchair. No one knew to what extent his memory, comprehension and mobility issues were permanent. Doctors and family explained what happened to him over and again, but it didn’t make sense to Clark for about a year.

When he was discharged from Shepherd, Clark began outpatient therapy and moved back into his childhood home with his parents in Marietta. They added a ramp to the front of the house and put a hospital bed in the dining room.

His days revolved around therapy as he adjusted to using a wheelchair. Then, about six months after his aneurysm, the unexpected happened. He moved his left leg just a little. Three months later, he regained feeling in his arm.

A holiday tradition begins

On Easter 2006, a year after his brain injury, Clark wheeled his chair into Grady flanked by his parents and armed with pastries and kind words.

“I didn’t do it to make myself feel good,” said Clark. “I did it because it’s the right thing to do. My family and I walked that same path, and I got lucky. I wanted to go back to show people no matter how dark it might feel, there’s every reason to have hope. You never know what life might look like in a year.”

Two months later, Clark was ready to learn how to walk again. When he returned to Grady on Easter 2007, he walked through the door with the help of a cane.

“My doctors and therapists were blown away,” said Clark. “I wanted it badly, and I was so happy, but there were still challenges.”

Having regained his mobility, Clark returned to school, but having to use a cane, combined with short-term memory loss and vision impairment caused by his brain injury, proved too difficult.

He left school and set out to find a job, which was another struggle.

“When employers saw me walk in with a cane, they didn’t want to hire me,” said Clark. “I went to job training sites, had a job coach, went to job fairs and countless interviews.”

After a short-term position with his church, he was finally hired in 2014 by Walmart as a front-end associate.

“They were the one company willing to give me a full-time job,” he said.

Love conquers all

Before the aneurysm, Clark imagined a future with a wife and family. Afterward, he was unsure if he would find someone who would accept him and his limitations. That changed in October 2016 when he took a dive into the dating site Plenty of Fish and met his wife.

“Zuly and I met and messaged each other for three or four weeks before meeting at Mazzy’s Sports Bar,” said Clark. “She’s the first person who wanted to see me knowing I’m unable to drive.”

For Zuly Clark, that was never an issue.

“He told me about his injury because I kind of forced him into it,” said Zuly, 43. “The driving thing was a logistical challenge, but it was something we could get past. I can’t get past poor life choices or questionable moral character, but I can get past residual effects from an injury that should’ve taken someone’s life.”

The Clarks married in 2018. Now Zuly joins her husband for his Easter tradition at the hospital.

The first time she was nervous because hospitals make her uneasy, but she baked dozens of muffins, packed lots of clementine oranges and walked through the doors with her husband, sharing his desire to offer comfort through food and words.

“I believe in the power of testimony, and I believe hope is healing,” said Zuly. “Jon has a responsibility to share his testimony of healing with those who are currently walking the same path he has already tread. My role as his wife is to simply encourage him.”

A family affair

After an arduous adoption process, Jon and Zuly welcomed a new addition to their family last July, a 9-month-old son. In a nod to the Bible verse that encouraged Clark during his time at Shepherd, he was named Joshua.

The family of three lives in a Marietta subdivision and attend church at Mount Bethel every Sunday. Zuly is a teacher, Clark still works at Walmart, and they share their evenings at home with Joshua, their answered prayer.

This year marks the 20th year Clark will spend Easter at Grady. This time, in addition to Zuly, they will bring their son along to the place where his daddy’s life was saved.

“Having this brain injury has changed my perspective and focus completely,” said Clark. “When I accepted what happened, it gave me a broader sense of gratitude. I used to be so frustrated over what I couldn’t do, and now I’m just so grateful for what I can do and for the wife and son who have come into my life.

“Some of the patients I meet at Grady are exactly where I once was, and I tell them keep pressing forward. Don’t let current circumstances keep you down. Let my life be an encouragement to yours.”

“Love on the Spectrum” Moms Launch Podcast

Lise Smith and her sons Connor Tomlinson and Jack Tomlinson (far right), Tanner Smith and his mom Nicci Smith at the “Love on the Spectrum” Season 3 Premiere

Lise Smith and Nicci Smith aren’t related, but they have so much in common — far beyond their shared last name — that they feel like sisters. Both women appear with their oldest sons on Netflix’s Emmy Award-winning docuseries “Love on the Spectrum.”

In response to the countless messages they both receive from the show’s viewers, the women are now collaborating on a podcast titled “Talk to Me, Sis” to answer questions and share stories from various life experiences, including raising children with autism.

The podcast launched March 1, a month before the third season of “Love on the Spectrum” released on April 2. At three weeks in, they had 177 subscribers on YouTube and more than 1,000 downloads. New episodes are released every Thursday and are available on all podcast platforms.

They are careful not to over-define “Talk to Me, Sis,” as they don’t want to limit the topics to just autism, but that is the focus of the first six episodes.

“We’re not reporters, we’re not therapists, but we have real life experience, and we’ve raised these great gentlemen, so we feel like we have something to offer,” said Lise, of Cumming. “We did have some funny feedback after the first episode in regard to our overuse of the word ‘absolutely.’ You know what, they were right. You could hear our nerves, and it was absolutely good feedback.”

They are less concerned with numbers as they are about advocating for autism awareness and enjoying this wild, unexpected ride.

It was Jack Tomlinson, Lise’s 20-year-old son, who got the ball rolling for Connor Tomlinson’s spot on “Love on the Spectrum.” He messaged director Cian O’Clery after the first season aired and pitched Connor as a candidate for season two. Lise never fathomed Connor, now 26, would be chosen, but when O’Clery asked to meet with the family, the needle scratched the record.

“I hit pause and called a family meeting,” said Lise, 53, who shares six adult children with Tony Smith, her husband of 11 years. “I mean, this is a globally known show. It’s what Connor wanted to do, and he’d expressed being lonely, so we wanted to support him, but putting your family out there is scary. We knew we’d have to take the rough with the smooth. We all committed to that and haven’t looked back.”

Connor’s popularity and opportunities exploded after season two was released in January 2024. Though he is still employed at Kroger where he bags groceries, retrieves shopping carts from the parking lot and sweeps floors, his life has changed in many ways. He has traveled to Los Angeles and New York multiple times to promote the series, been invited to sing onstage at a Broadway show and has amassed nearly half a million followers on Instagram.

“He receives so many positive messages,” said Lise, who works as a design and sales consultant for Surface Providers in Alpharetta. “Connor has had some really honest moments, like his panic attack scene, that have inspired and resonated with viewers. We had no idea how much he’d help people. And I never imagined how many messages I’d receive, mostly from mothers asking questions, looking for someone to talk to.”

Nicci, of Saint Matthews, South Carolina, echoes Lise’s sentiments. After her son Tanner, 26, appeared in season two of “Love on the Spectrum,” he became famous overnight, bombarded with brand offers and speaking opportunities. Nicci, who had been a stay-at-home mom to her four children, including Tanner, was contemplating a return to her nursing career, but Tanner’s rise to fame, and the onslaught of direct messages, redirected her.

“I jumped in to help Tanner manage this new life of his,” said Nicci, 52. “He’s overcome so much and worked so hard. He missed out on a lot when he was a child. He had no social life or big, fun opportunities, so I say ‘yes’ to the opportunities that come his way that make sense and make him happy.”

Season two of “Love on the Spectrum” was the first season for both Connor and Tanner. After watching the episodes, Nicci sent Lise, whom she had never met, a message on Instagram.

“I just knew when I saw her on the show that she was a goddess. I loved her and had to meet her,” said Nicci.

When the women met in person a month later at a cast get together, they felt like they’d known each other for years.

Both Lise and Nicci confided they had inboxes full of questions from viewers, mothers mostly, who wanted to know things like when their children were diagnosed with autism, what therapies they had, how the moms coped with the struggles and so on.

Trying to respond to all the messages felt close to a full-time job for both women. That’s when Nicci had an idea.

“I remembered feeling so alone with Tanner was a little boy, and I knew Lise felt the same,” said Nicci. “When our boys were diagnosed, Tanner at age 4 and Connor at age 5, there was nothing out there for us, no one to talk to, no support groups, no idea of what our future might look like. All those DMs we received were a catalyst to start a podcast, to answer all those questions collectively, and be a source of hope for other families. Lise and I both felt a call to do that.”

Added Lise, “I still love my full-time job, but it’s so energizing to reinvent myself and do something on this path that has opened before us. It’s an exciting time for both Nicci and I. We both look at the hype around ‘Love on the Spectrum’ as a 15 minutes of fame kind of thing, and we just want to enjoy the ride, make some memories, and squeeze all we can out of the experience. One day when if it all dies down, we’ll bow out, look back and say that was amazing.”

Lise Smith and Nicci Smith, contributed by Sarah E Photography, LLC

St. Andre Golf, Goofin' & Golfin'

St. Andre Golf sketch comedy trio, photographed by Billy Stahlmann

Just three months after Aaron Chewning introduced his sketch comedy group St. Andre Golf on social media, he had thousands of Instagram followers and an invite to film a commercial with Tiger Woods.

Now, nearly three years later, St. Andre Golf is nearing half a million Instagram followers, legions of followers on many other social media platforms, has traveled across the world to film with professional golfers and works with multiple brands. Chewning has been wanting to make people laugh since he was a boy growing up in Snellville, and now, at 35, laughter is still what he’s chasing.

Chewning, who now lives in Virginia-Highland, and his older sister, Callie, were creative kids. Their mom and dad, a pharmacist and a builder, respectively, helmed a witty household where laughter was abundant.

Chewning was captivated when YouTube launched in 2005, and was a huge fan of “Saturday Night Live,” especially then-cast member Andy Samberg’s digital shorts. Inspired by Samberg, Chewning made a rap video about attending chapel at Providence Christian Academy, sharing it with his teachers and classmates.

“I stood in the back while they watched and listened as they laughed,” said Chewning. “I loved that feeling. I knew that was what I wanted to do forever.”

After graduating from high school in 2007, Chewning attended Georgia Perimeter College to complete his core classes (while sporting his second round of braces, he noted), then he moved to Orlando, Florida, to attend Full Sail University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in film.

Chewning dabbled in stand-up comedy in his early 20s and worked for Boosterthon, a job where he fundraised for schools, then moved on to a handful of other jobs, including wedding photography and videographer gigs with marketing agencies. Then, in 2012, Vine, a video sharing platform, launched and changed his life.

“Vine videos were just six seconds, which is wild,” said Chewning. “I had just six seconds to be as funny as I could. My videos were one-liners, puns, dad jokes and nonsense, but they worked.”

Many of Chewning’s videos went viral. When Vine shut down in 2017, he had 1.3 million followers and a Rolodex of corporate contacts. He went on to work with AT&T and multiple sports media companies, writing, performing and directing funny content, then became the creative director for Oust, a digital media company.

Even in his free time, Chewning could not escape the desire to write comedy. In 2021, as he wrote out pages and pages of sketches that all revolved around golf — his favorite hobby ever since he played on the high school golf team — he realized he was on to something.

“I had so much content and started picturing golf sketch comedy as its own thing,” said Chewning. “Historically, the game of golf has been uptight and intense. The pros have to be so locked in while they’re playing. They may throw out a fist pump, but the game is known for being quiet, solo and demanding. But it can also be really funny, as can most anything.”

As he hit his creative stride, Chewning contemplated the perfect name for his venture.

“I wanted a name that looked good on a shirt, could stand alone, would represent old school golf and Atlanta, too,” said Chewning. “That’s when St. Andre Golf came to me. It’s a nod to both St. Andrews Golf Club in Scotland and Atlanta’s own Andre 3000,″ from the rap duo Outkast.

For eight months, Chewning collaborated with a dream team of friends, a design partner and four investment partners, including his good pal and former Atlanta Braves pitcher Collin McHugh, to create the St. Andre Golf brand. He reached out to two friends he’d met through comedy, Jonathon Pawlowski, 37, and Hannah Aslesen, 34, and the trio began filming content that revolved around golf and sometimes included original songs.

“They had no idea what they were getting into, but they were down to make funny stuff with friends,” said Chewning.

Aslesen had not played golf before, but she was familiar with the culture because she worked at a country club in high school and college.

“I loved the idea of making relatable golf content,” said Aslesen. “Golf can feel stuffy and hoity-toity, but we want to connect with people on their level. You’re not that great? Hey, me either. Let’s go have fun and not worry about the pressure.”

St. Andre Golf launched on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X and YouTube in August 2022 and posted five times a week for the first few weeks. Satirical videos about things like losing balls on the golf course, fibbing on scorecards and getting paired with a weird partner gained immediate attention.

“The goal was to become unavoidable for golf sickos who follow all the golf meme pages,” said Chewning. “We hoped we’d get on some big golf meme accounts, like Zire Golf and Nuclr Golf, within our first six months to a year, but it only took a week. We exploded, and my relationship with Jonathon and Hannah became, ‘Please don’t leave me, you’re part of this forever.‘”

As their followers grew, big brands, including Covington, Georgia-based Bridgestone Golf, took notice.

Bridgestone’s senior marketing manager Adam Rehberg only saw a few St. Andre Golf sketches, and he was hooked.

“They showed that they really understood the golf landscape, and we really liked that,” said Rehberg. “I did what every self-respecting person would do and slid into their DMs. I asked if they’d be interested in working with Bridgestone and appearing in a sketch with Tiger Woods.”

Chewning was in shock when he received that message.

“It was so beyond bucket list,” he said. “I mean, it’s Tiger Woods. And Bridgestone Golf? I’ve played with their clubs and balls for years. It was so fortuitous that they reached out. I mean, we probably would’ve said yes to anyone at that point, but thank God it was them. They’re based in Georgia, we love their products, and they gave us the opportunity to film with Tiger Woods — just a dream.”

St. Andre Golf still partners with Bridgestone and filmed with Woods again, as well as Jason Day, Fred Couples and many more pros.

St. Andre Golf does occasional projects with other brands, but they have contracts with Bridgestone Golf, the PGA Superstore, Johnnie-O apparel, canned cocktails company Long Drink and the Atlanta Drive Golf Club.

They’ve traveled around the world, including Dubai in January, and they’ve played some of the most renowned golf courses, including Pebble Beach, Pinehurst and Oakmont. They became profitable two years after launching, and St. Andre Golf is now a full-time gig for Chewning and Aslesen. Still part of the cast, Pawlowski also works as a freelance actor and filmmaker.

While Chewning, who got married in September, said he thinks about what’s next every day — maybe developing a show, maybe a movie — he is also content with current circumstances.

“I get to joke around on a golf course with my best friends for a living,” said Chewning. “We get paid to make people laugh. It doesn’t get much better.”


Deborah Andrews' Daydream Rescue Sanctuary

Deborah Andrews and her Hindu heifer, Annabelle. Photographed by Arvin Temkar

Deborah Andrews’ mom always told her not to feed the strays, but she never listened. The little girl who took in cats, dogs and an array of reptiles now runs Daydream Rescue Sanctuary, a 52-acre parcel of land in Gainesville where she takes care of more than 65 farm animals.

Although Daydream has drained Andrews’ retirement fund and robbed her of a personal life, she is determined to keep her dream alive.

For years Andrews worked in accounting at Publix supermarkets, then in hospital administration. But much of her free time was dedicated to animals, including as a volunteer for Save the Horses, an animal rescue nonprofit run by Cheryl Flanagan in Cumming.

“I learned a lot from Cheryl,” said Andrews, 56. “I helped her with fundraising and even adopted a horse from her. I took a ton of online classes through the University of North Georgia, learning all kinds of medical aspects of animals, biological and physiological. I’m a huge reader and love research, but the best training is life experience, and I’ve had lots of that.”

In 2018, Andrews and her family — husband Mike and their daughter Ashley, a photographer who also works at Daydream — were living on six acres in Gainesville taking care of 25 goats and three horses when they found a three-bedroom ranch with 52 acres for sale. Andrews saw their future. She retired from the corporate world and followed her heart.

“It was a calling. I was nervous and scared to use my 401(k) to fund it, but it’s what I had to do,” said Andrews. “I also used money left to me by my aunt and uncle, Rodney and Wanda Day. They loved animals, too, and they had a sailboat named Daydream. That’s where the rescue’s name came from. It’s dedicated to them.”

The family moved into the house, and Andrews spent a year-and-a-half putting up fencing and rebuilding the barn along with the help of a friend. Now the property boasts 12 pastures, an 18-acre hayfield, a 24-stall barn and a chicken house.

Daydream began with one rooster and three horses, but the herd steadily grew through referrals and word-of-mouth. Today it is at maximum capacity with nine cows, 38 horses, 26 goats, one sheep, three potbelly pigs and six hens. The nonprofit’s operating costs are about $3,500 a month, and it does not receive grants or federal funding, nor does it have any sponsors.

“It’s all the bank of Deborah,” quipped Andrews.

Concerned about her dwindling resources, Andrews and a friend were brainstorming one day ways Daydream could generate a revenue stream. Andrews’ friend, who is Hindu, suggested she train one of her cows to attend a Griha Pravesh, a Hindu housewarming ceremony. Hindus consider cows to be sacred animals, representing good fortune. During a housewarming ceremony, a cow is taken inside the home and walked from room to room to bless the house.

Andrews loved the idea and instantly knew which cow would be the easiest to train. In Daydream’s earliest days, Andrews acquired 2-week-old, sister calves Norma and Annabelle, who were suffering with pneumonia. Andrews hand-raised them and brought them back to health. Annabelle is an especially calm, friendly heifer, and Andrews thought she would be perfect for the job.

“It may sound really strange, but after working with animals for so long, I can feel their feelings and read their demeanor,” said Andrews. “I know Annabelle very well, and she knows me. She listens to me and has confidence in my judgment. Training was long, but not hard.”

For three years Andrews trained Annabelle. She’d pull her from the herd for halter training, take her for long walks up the road and around the farm, and load her on and off the trailer. She taught Annabelle, who weighs around 1,000 pounds, to stay still when children were running around and to take pauses to practice patience. The one skill Andrews didn’t teach the heifer was potty training.

“With the Hindu culture, it’s a sign of good luck if the cow goes to the bathroom in the house,” said Andrews. “I panicked the first time it happened, but the homeowner and priest reassured me. They scooped it up and took it to the flower garden for good luck.”

In February, Bwani Semmeti’s family of four moved to a new home in Cumming. Semmeti found Daydream on Facebook Marketplace and hired Annabelle for her housewarming.

“We had 200 people attend and my guests loved the cow,” said Semmeti. “It’s like God for us; we worship cows and to us they are auspicious. We decorated her with flowers and fed her fruit from our hands as we do in India. It was very special for my family to honor those traditions from home.”

Annabelle, who wears a silk shawl for the ceremonies, has developed a tradition of her own. When Andrews loads her into the trailer after her work is done, Annabelle gives a big “moo” out the window.

“It’s as if she’s saying, ‘Thank you for having me,‘” said Andrews, who charges $350 per ceremony.

Annabelle attended 20 ceremonies in 2024, which helped create some revenue for Daydream, but more is needed. Andrews’ 401(k) is now depleted and she was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma a year ago. She recently underwent surgery and will be physically limited for the next few months.

Before her illness, Andrews ran Daydream with Ashley and a couple volunteers, but she needed more help while she recovered, so she posted on social media and was encouraged by the response. So far, she has about 20 regular volunteers to assist with weekly shifts, but more are needed, and so are funds.

Andrews has expanded her list of offerings at the farm to include hosting birthday parties, pony visits and riding lessons. She joined Harvest Hosts, a membership program that permits people traveling in RVs to camp on her land for a fee. And she works with Hall County Schools, offering animal therapy for children with autism. She hopes to expand her services to people who suffer from depression and PTSD.

Meanwhile, Ashley launched a GoFundMe at the end of 2024 that has raised about $10,000 so far with a goal of $40,000.

Andrews will do anything she can to make sure her animals, most of which are geriatric, can live out their remaining days at Daydream.

“I try to stay positive and keep a lot of things spinning. … I haven’t changed much since I was a kid,” she said. “I never want to turn an animal away.”

Daydream Rescue Sanctuary. 3352 Roy Parks Road, Gainesville. www.daydreamrescuesanctuary.org

From the Eras Tour to Your Living Room, it's Taylor Swift

The Eras tour may be over, but Atlanta Swifties can shake it off and make their wildest dreams come true by booking their favorite pop star — or someone who looks a lot like her — for a party. Michelle Paget, Taylor Swift doppelgänger, has worked with Look-alikes & Characters Entertainment since 2017. As Swift’s popularity has grown, so has Paget’s.

The comparisons to the uber-famous singer-songwriter began when Cumming resident Paget was a senior at west Georgia’s Columbus High School. At 5-foot-11, the lanky blonde’s resemblance to Swift only grew when she cut her bangs.

“I didn’t get them to look like her, but the resemblance was definitely more obvious with bangs,” said Paget, 29.

When she continued to receive comments about her being a Swift look-alike during her years at the University of North Georgia, Paget wondered if she could capitalize on the likeness. A friend of hers performed at parties as Disney princess characters for Look-alikes & Characters Entertainment. Paget reached out to the founder, Patrice Wiley, to see if she was interested in hiring a Taylor Swift look-alike. After seeing Paget, Wiley instantly said yes.

The response from clients affirmed Wiley’s decision.

“Both adults and children absolutely love her and her performances,” Wiley said of Paget. “She has such a likeness to Taylor — they can’t believe it.”

Katie Spencer, of Buford, hired Paget for her daughter Charlee’s 6th birthday party in February.

“She truly made my daughter’s birthday,” said Spencer. “She was so interactive with the children and for her last song she had Charlee come up and perform with her. She remained in character the entire time and looks so much like Taylor Swift. The moms and I enjoyed it just as much as the little girls. We want her to come to our birthday parties.”

A Swiftie herself, Paget sings on top of a track with Swift in the background. Many of her favorite songs are from the “Fearless” album, which she received as a gift for her own 12th birthday, but she also loves to perform newer hits like “Karma” and “Cruel Summer.”

While most parties are hits, some have had hiccups.

“There were a couple kids who weren’t nice,” said Paget. “They pulled on my hair and dress. … There was also the time when a little girl came over just to tell me that her mom didn’t like me.”

But the few negative encounters have been greatly overshadowed by the wonder Paget sees in the children’s faces.

“The girls always ask me questions, and I do my best to answer as Taylor would, because some of them, so sweet, truly believe I’m her,” said Paget. “I’ll give answers like, ‘I love all my songs. I wrote them all myself, so they’re all dear to me.’”

Most of Paget’s party performances last an hour and take place at private residences or neighborhood clubhouses. Paget brings her microphone and music, and wears makeup that Swift fans know all too well — winged black eyeliner and bright red lips. Sometimes Paget brings stuff to make friendship bracelets, a classic Swiftie accessory. In addition to bracelet-making, she engages the kids in dance parties, musical chairs, Taylor Says (à la Simon Says) and red-carpet model walks.

Paget, who also dressed up as Elsa from Disney’s “Frozen” for a few parties but quit because the wig was too painful, said it’s more than her appearance that leads to successful performances. She knows how to carry a tune.

While not a professional singer, during college Paget was a member of University of North Georgia’s a cappella group, the Hawkapellas. That’s where she met Ben Paget, her husband of seven years. He was the beat boxer and president of the group. Now he makes cameos at his wife’s Swift gigs. He has dressed up as her bodyguard before, but not Travis Kelce, Swift’s current love.

“If he looked like him we’d definitely do it,” said Paget.

While Ben is not a big fan of Swift’s music, he respects her work and is supportive of his wife’s side hustle. Last year Paget worked some 15 gigs as Swift. She is careful not to overbook parties, because her personal life and full-time job as the regional marketing manager for Atlanta Oral & Facial Surgery are her top priorities, but she hopes to continue being a Swift impersonator for as long as she can.

“My opportunities could change as I continue to age,” said Paget. “Taylor has billions of dollars to prevent aging, but I’m preparing for the day that people don’t see the resemblance anymore because my body or face change too much. I think I have a little time.”

The look-alike is still mistaken for Swift daily, everywhere from work to the grocery store. It’s given her a greater understanding and empathy for celebrities.

“What I get is a drop in the ocean of what it means to be a celebrity and recognized all the time,” said Paget. “I can’t imagine being hounded the way they are. Recognition is a weird thing. Sometimes I don’t like the attention, and when I don’t get it, I wonder if I look bad.”

Paget garnered lots of comments and interest when she attended the Eras tour in April 2023. She took selfies and videos with many concertgoers and received double takes when she helped direct foot traffic on the packed MARTA train.

“Sure, sometimes I want to be myself and not attract attention, but I feel I’m doing something special with the face and body God gave me,” said Paget. “For a long time, people asked why I wasn’t more famous or working as her body double, but I don’t need that. I don’t need the attention or negative comments from a social media account either. I’m just me. I feel good about what I’m doing. I’m making money, yes, but on an altruistic level, I’m making kids happy, and that makes me happy.”

Michelle Paget as Taylor Swift and birthday girl Charlee Spencer

From Homeless to Freedom Village

When veteran Rosalyn Martin was living in her car, she made a promise to God that if she could just get what she needed, she’d take it and run with it. She fulfilled that promise on March 28, 2024, when she walked through the doors of the Fort McPherson VA Clinic in Atlanta.

Following in the footsteps of her older brother, her father who served in Vietnam and her grandfather who fought in World War II, Martin enlisted in the Army when she was 18. It wasn’t just tradition, however, that led her to the armed forces.

“I really wanted to get away from home,” said Martin, 46. “I was raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and my family was well known around there. You don’t have much privacy in a college town.”

Martin became a dental assistant in the Army. She spent her first few years in the National Guard in Alabama before going into the reserves and moving to Marietta to work on the Dobbins Air Force Base. She left the Army in 2012 when her contract expired. That’s the same year her beloved older brother Kevin died unexpectedly.

Devastated by the loss, Martin tried her best to keep moving. She worked for a handful of information technology companies and attended school to become a makeup artist, but her ambition was snuffed out by depression.

“Losing my brother, and losing my father, James, two years before him, I lost my greatest support system,” said Martin. “That takes a toll on a person.”

She moved back to Alabama in 2014 where she floundered between jobs and residences for a few years before returning to Georgia to work for Amazon in 2020.

Just as Martin began to feel a semblance of order in her life, she was involved in a bad car accident in 2022. Her back was injured and caused ongoing pain and neuropathy. She had to resign from her job because she couldn’t endure the physical labor. That’s when her financial problems began to mount. That’s also when she turned to drugs and alcohol to try to cope.

Martin began driving for Uber and, when she could no longer afford her apartment, her Camry became both her workplace and home.

“I’d stay with friends for a few months here and there, but for two years I spent most nights in my car,” said Martin. “I’d brush my teeth at a QuikTrip every morning, I’d take showers at rest stops and drive up to 12 hours a day, as much as Uber allows. Then I’d park in the Uber lot at the airport, because police patrol that area, and I’d lay back in the driver’s seat to sleep.”

By early 2024, the pain of sitting all day intensified, along with Martin’s desire for something more.

“People always told me to go to Fort McPherson because they’d help me, but I figured they’d just push some paperwork around,” Martin said. “I put it in the back of my mind until one day, I broke. I knew I had to make a change.”

Fort McPherson is one of 22 VA clinics in Georgia. Minutes into Martin’s appointment, the case worker said they had immediate housing available at the Donna Center for Women, a place for homeless women and children that opened in Atlanta in 2018.

“I imagined a homeless shelter, like a big open place like you see on TV where people steal from you,” said Martin. “It wasn’t like that at all. I had my own room, and they gave me bedding, toiletries and food.”

After a weekend at the Donna Center, Martin moved into Mary Hall Freedom Village and began the Veterans Independence Program, which focuses on freeing women and children from homelessness, poverty, mental illness and addiction. The program offers career development and employment opportunities, as well as addiction recovery.

Tina Lewis, a licensed clinical social worker for the Atlanta VA Healthcare system, meets with all the residents of Mary Hall Freedom Village weekly to provide support, mentorship and advocacy. She sets a plan with each resident, including Rosalyn, about their personal and professional goals.

“Rosalyn has always been very forthcoming about her past with addiction and how her actions led her where they did,” said Lewis. “Now she’s seeing how positive actions are leading her to a brighter future. While she was living in her car, she relied solely on herself and struggled to trust others. Since joining the VIP program, I have seen her open up and allow herself to collaborate with others to attain her goals.”

Martin is grateful that sobriety is a condition of the VIP program and said drinking and smoking no longer appeal to her.

“It doesn’t sound tempting because I want my life to stay on track,” she said. “Being sober has restored structure in my days and I feel ambitious again. I went to every veteran job fair I could, which is how I found the job I have now.”

Martin is training to become a corrections officer for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice.

“It’s a lot to learn, dealing with kids, some with serious offenses, but I understand what it’s like to have baggage,” she said. “The job has given me a different perspective and helped me be more thankful and empathetic.”

Martin looks forward to graduating from her program and finding a full-time job as a correctional officer in a couple of months. She will also be on the hunt for an apartment, which excites her.

“It’s all a blessing from God,” said Martin. “I asked him for things when I was in my car. I made a promise to him and myself. This program gave me something to focus on and, with the level of support they provide, I feel like I can’t fail. My faith in myself has been restored.”

Feeney's Legacy

Kathy Armistead will always wonder if her son Feeney would still be alive if 911 were called sooner. Now it’s her mission to ensure other families won’t ask that same question.

Feeney Armistead was a gregarious guy who loved sports and people. His family, which includes Kathy, his dad Chris and sister Lia, lived in Australia as expats for eight years when he was a kid. That’s where he developed a love of baseball and travel, interests that stayed with him into adulthood.

When Feeney was 15, the Armisteads moved back to the U.S. and settled in Atlanta, where Feeney graduated from St. Pius X Catholic High School. He attended the University of Mississippi his freshman year, then transferred to his dream school, the University of Georgia. He went on to a career as a technical writer for Google and various information technology companies, jobs that, over the years, planted him in places including New Zealand, Denver and New Orleans, before he settled in Atlanta, home of the Braves, his favorite baseball team.

During Feeney’s senior year in Athens, he had become addicted to opioids.

“I don’t think he realized how fast an addiction could happen,” said Kathy, 65, who lives in Atlanta. “I used cocaine in my 20s for a short time and told my kids about my experience. I wanted to warn them of the dangers. I told them that I stopped immediately when I heard about Len Bias, the basketball player who went into cardiac arrest after using cocaine. I never shied away from telling them the truth about drugs.”

On April 15, 2022, when Feeney was 33, he made a fatal decision. While hanging out with a friend, he used cocaine and went into cardiac arrest while sitting in his car. The story Kathy pieced together is that the friend who was with Feeney did not call 911 or administer CPR. When his girlfriend arrived on the scene approximately 30 minutes later, Feeney was unconscious with his head on the steering wheel. His friend was sitting on a curb. A passerby, who Kathy has never been able to identify or speak with, stopped at the scene and called 911. The emergency responders successfully shocked Feeney’s heart, but he went into cardiac arrest again in the ambulance and later was declared brain-dead at the hospital.

“The EMTs said, and the doctor who cried with me also said, that he could have made it if 911 had been called immediately, or if CPR had been administered immediately,” said Kathy. “Could my son still be alive today? I’ll never know.”

Feeney was an organ donor. His organs, eyes and skin were given to more than 150 people. Kathy said his choice to be a donor exemplifies traits Feeney maintained throughout his life, thoughtfulness and generosity.

“As I sat with him in the hospital, I held his hand and told him, ‘Your mother is going to make a great legacy for you. We’re going to talk about you and help people.’ That is our journey now,” said Kathy.

Kathy launched the Feeney Legacy Project on April 16, 2023, the year anniversary of her son’s death. The Armisteads wanted Feeney to be represented somewhere, so they chartered a Little Free Library in his memory at Decatur Legacy Park. Women in Feeney’s family painted it, personalizing it with references to his favorite teams as well as the nonprofit’s messages, including: Be Someone’s Second Chance, Learn CPR, Be a Life Saver.

Kathy’s greatest desire with the Feeney Legacy Project is to spread the word about Georgia’s 911 Medical Amnesty Law, which holds that the 911 caller and individual who had taken illegal substances cannot be arrested, charged or prosecuted for personal use quantities of drugs if the evidence was obtained as a result of seeking medical assistance and the caller remains at the scene with the victim. In simpler terms: Don’t leave, call 911.

“I’ve had so many teenagers tell me they had no idea about the amnesty law,” said Kathy, who has shared Feeney’s story and the law in talks with groups at the Westminster Schools — and she hopes to schedule visits with more schools. “It’s important that these kids know CPR and that, if faced with a situation like this, they have the instinct to stay and call 911.”

Kathy’s dream of reaching a large audience was realized in late December. Billboard company Lamar Advertising of Atlanta donated space on five metro digital billboards for two weeks to the Feeney Legacy Project.

“When I heard that our ad went live, I jumped in my car and drove up 85 North until I spotted Feeney’s face on the billboard right past Spaghetti Junction,” said Kathy. “Then I sat in a parking lot and sobbed.”

The billboards, which displayed a photo of Feeney and the messages “Be Someone’s Second Chance” and “Don’t Run Call 911,” drove more than 600 people to the Feeney Legacy Project’s website.

With the 2nd Annual Feeney’s 5k Fun Run & Virtual Run scheduled for April 13 at Decatur Legacy Park, Kathy plans to use proceeds to fund a billboard blitz.

“If by sharing my son’s story one life is saved and one family is spared the grief of loss,” she said, “Feeney’s legacy lives on.”

For more information or to register for Feeney’s 5k Fun Run & Virtual Run, visit: feeneylegacyproject.org



Hope for Ireland

There may never be a name for 9-year-old Ireland Tolbert’s diagnosis, but one day soon, n-Lorem, a medical research and development nonprofit, hopes to provide a medication that will improve her quality of life.

Shanna Tolbert always wanted to be a mother. She had a dreamy, healthy pregnancy with Ireland, her first child, and an uneventful labor.

However, when Ireland was born on April 4, 2015, she was taken to the neonatal unit because she had difficulty breathing and appeared to have jitters. She stayed there for four days while doctors ran multiple tests that yielded no answers.

“A veteran nurse looked at us and said there was something wrong with her, they just didn’t know what,” recalled Shanna, 39.

Ireland was a happy baby, but her parents noticed she was hitting her milestones, like smiling and tracking with her eyes, at the tail end of the expected windows. Then, when Ireland was 6 months old, everything changed.

While sleeping on Shanna’s chest, Ireland experienced her first GTC, a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. It involves a loss of consciousness and convulsive muscle contractions.

“It was like something out of a movie,” said Shanna, who with her family calls Dunwoody home. “Her entire little body was convulsing. I’d never seen a seizure in real life, but I knew what it was immediately.”

Shanna and her husband, Terry, took Ireland to the emergency room at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Hospital, but a reason for the seizure was not determined. She went on to have a few more seizures and subsequent emergency room visits, and when it happened again, just days before her first Thanksgiving, the Tolberts refused to leave the hospital until doctors figured out a cause.

Ireland was admitted and placed on an EEG unit to record the electrical activity in her brain. Days passed without a stir and then, on Thanksgiving Day, Ireland went into a full GTC.

“It was wild to see the EEG waves explode as her body convulsed,” Shanna said. “That’s when we got her epilepsy diagnosis.”

Pediatric neurologist Dr. Sumit Verma assessed Ireland’s movements, certain there was something more than epilepsy happening.

Ireland had genetic testing and received a diagnosis right before her first birthday: Her epilepsy is caused by a pathogenic mutation on her CACNAIA gene. An impairment of this gene affects the flow of calcium ions to the brain, which can cause a range of neurological and developmental disorders.

The disease, which is nameless, is neurodegenerative, which means it has no cure, and Ireland could face a gradual decline in her cognitive motor or sensory abilities.

“We were initially told she was the only one in the world, but there have been articles published since about her variant, and now I’m in touch with other parents around the globe who have children like Ireland,” said Shanna, who is a stay-at-home mom to Ireland and younger sister Brooke, 6.

Ireland’s seizures have gotten progressively worse. When they happen, she goes into status epilepticus, which is a life-threatening situation where she can lose consciousness and the seizure will not stop without medical intervention.

The Tolberts rely on a compounded rescue drug to stop her seizures. The pharmacists informed them that the medicine is so strong, it could make a grown man drop to the floor and stop breathing.

In 2021, Ireland’s case was submitted by a neurologist and accepted by the n-Lorem Foundation, a nonprofit based in Carlsbad, California, that develops customized drug therapies with FDA guidance for nano-rare individuals. The medicines are provided to patients for free for their lifetime.

While there are more than 300 million people worldwide who have rare diseases, nano-rare describes a patient with genetic mutations so unique that they share their diagnosis with only one to 30 others in the world. Due to the rarity, treatment options are often limited, and n-Lorem is focused on drug discovery for those patients.

“We have treated more than 20 patients with various nano-rare diseases so far,” said Andrew Serrano, digital marketing manager for n-Lorem, which was established in 2020. “Many of our patients have been on treatment long enough to evaluate a response to their individualized gene-targeted therapy, and there have been life-changing improvements with the medicines being well tolerated.

“Some of the improvements include reduction in seizures, improved motor skills and better cognition,” Serrano continued. “One patient who couldn’t stand on her own can stand now, and another who couldn’t walk on their own can now take some steps. Ireland’s gene-targeted therapy is in progress, and our goal is to one day alleviate her symptoms and improve her quality of life.”

n-Lorem treats nano-rare patients “for free, for life,” according to its website. “We believe a nonprofit approach is the only way to treat nano-rare patients. Any commercial scale approach would require that nano-rare patients be charged millions of dollars.”

Ireland’s family is thankful on many levels. “Before n-Lorem, no one was working on anything for Ireland,” Shanna said. “There was no scientist, no lab, no clinical trial, no hope of anything coming down the pipeline. Now there’s hope. Somebody is trying to help us. Someone is paying attention; someone cares and is going to try to figure this out for Ireland.”

Ireland is minimally verbal, has global development delays and an autism diagnosis. She suffers two to three seizures a month, which take her days to recover.

But on her best days, she sings, enjoys the pool in her backyard and loves to collect party supplies. Her parents often take her to Party City to get balloons just because it makes her happy.

“Our hope is that Ireland will have more days where she feels good and can enjoy life to the fullest and maybe even communicate her needs better,” Shanna said. “I know there’s so much more in her. I just know it.”


Horses that Heal

Horses never share a secret, but they hear many at the Murphy Harpst Children’s Center in Cedartown.

The Murphy Harpst campus rests in the foothills of Appalachia, stretching across 160 acres. Faith based and funded by federal grants and donors, it houses up to 60 kids between the ages of 13 to 17 in the residential program and up to 15 young adults, ages 18 to 21, in the transitional living program. What began as an orphanage in 1924 founded by educator and caregiver Ethel Harpst now provides on-site schooling, spiritual development and recreational activities.

Among the facility’s therapeutic activities, equine therapy figures prominently. Begun in 1984, it incorporates Murphy Harpst’s greatest assets: land and animals.

“Historically, there have been animals here since the very beginning,” said Scott Fuller, vice president of advancement at Murphy Harpst. “As we observed therapy models across the country, we saw the use of livestock and horses become a popular method of trying to help people heal. We already had horses and livestock; we just needed to use them in a more programmatic way to meet our children’s needs. That’s what we did, and we never looked back.”

Studies show equine therapy helps children develop a sense of trust, empathy and self-confidence. It can also aid in healing wounds from the past, as it did for Dillon Soule.

Soule was 16 years old when he arrived at Murphy Harpst in 2021. After bouncing around in foster care and staying in a few group homes, his three years at Murphy Harpst was the longest he’d lived anywhere.

He can’t recall exactly when or why the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services became an integral part of his life, he only remembers being unhappy about it.

“My mom was never home, and my dad has been in prison since I was 8,” said Soule, now 19. “He was sentenced for 135 years, and my mom, well … She recently said not to contact her again.”

Soule struggled with anger issues and brought them along when he moved to Murphy Harpst.

“I had a really bad attitude and got mad over everything,” said Soule. “I had a low tolerance for a lot of things, and I don’t have a filter, so things just came out of my mouth.”

Soule had been at Murphy Harpst for a couple of months when he volunteered to fill in for someone in a therapy group. His first time visiting the barn was a turning point in his life.

He began spending much of his time at the stables, working, participating in therapy groups and visiting with the horses.

“I did therapy with many of the horses,” said Soule. “Animals are my safe space. I really liked all of them, but Samson, the big, dark brown one, is my favorite, the one I always went back to petting, the one I talked to the most and confided in.”

One of the therapies he learned was horse-breathing. He discovered that matching his breathing to a horse’s breathing could have a calming effect.

“Growing up and going through so much, my thoughts would go toward the negative and my ADHD didn’t help,” said Soule. “The horse therapy calmed me and helped me understand why I was mad. Now, even without a horse by my side, I remember what I learned, and it helps. Just breathe. People always talk about breaking a wild horse, but I feel like the horse broke me.”

The equine therapy program is multifaceted and includes grooming and feeding the horses, exercising them and talking with them.

“Horses can teach us so much about healthy relationships,” said Jessica Morgan, director of recreation therapy. “Before the kids ever get on the horses’ backs, they engage them through activities like an obstacle course. They must figure out how to guide the horse through it with nothing but body language.”

Temptation Alley is a challenge in which kids make an alleyway for the horses with buckets of food to tempt them. As they walk their horses down the aisle and help them battle their temptations, the children learn how to combat temptations of their own.

One of the most popular therapeutic activities is secret telling. The kids choose the horse they are most connected to, lead them out to the pasture and confide their stories of disappointment and heartbreak.

“We all need a safe place to be ourselves and be known,” said Morgan. “Secret telling is a cathartic, tear-filled release where these kids begin to feel safe sharing their experiences. They have to start somewhere, and it’s often easier to put the horse before the therapist.”

When Soule turned 18, he thought he was ready to be on his own. He signed himself out of Murphy Harpst’s care.

“It was a dumb decision,” he said. “I just wanted to be away from everybody. I had really bad trust issues when I was growing up and always believed people were against me, so I guess that’s why I left.”

To celebrate his high school graduation, Soule and his girlfriend went to Orlando, Florida, where he got into a car accident. His girlfriend left him, and he was homeless for a week.

Remembering the calming skills he’d learned at Murphy Harpst and reminding himself there are good people worth trusting, Soule went to a church and parishioners got him a hotel room. Then he called Murphy Harpst. They welcomed him back, and he lived in the transitional program until he left for college.

In August, Soule moved to South Georgia to attend Columbus State University. He hopes to become a structural engineer. He returned to Murphy Harpst for Thanksgiving and says he will continue visiting the place and the animals that changed his life.

“A lesson I learned there is very clear to me now, and I’ll carry it with me always,” said Soule. “We can’t do it alone; we all need people and, well, sometimes a horse, too.”

Atlanta Brothers Go the Distance

All photos contributed by John David Johnson II

Jellyfish could’ve ruined everything the Pease brothers worked for.

Just minutes before the VinFast Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, began on Oct. 26, Brent Pease was stung multiple times. As he stood in the Pacific Ocean, absorbing the prickling pain, thoughts of quitting and letting people down clouded his mind. After more than a year of dedicated training and a seven-figure capital fundraising campaign, the Ironman could have ended before it started.

It was the sixth Ironman Brent and his younger brother Kyle Pease would compete in as a duo. They participate in the “special teams” division, which combines an able-bodied athlete with a disabled athlete. Kyle has cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia, so they depend on Brent’s physical strength to propel them through the 140.6-mile race, which includes a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run.

Since their first Ironman in 2013, the brothers have learned to expect pain throughout the competition, and they’ve faced their share of challenges, but overcoming them together, and enabling others to do the same, is their greatest reward.

The jellyfish stings were just the latest hurdle they would overcome.

Competitive spirit runs deep

The Pease brothers were born and raised in Sherwood Forest, a suburb of Atlanta, where they grew up playing in their backyard until the sun went down. While they compete as a duo these days, they’re part of a trio in the Pease family, rounded out by their brother Evan, Kyle’s twin.

Raised by their parents Janis and Richard, the family attended Braves games together and bounced from one brother’s game to the next. Baseball was the first love of all three Pease boys before they splintered off into other sports.

Kyle transitioned from a stroller to a wheelchair at age 3, then moved to a power chair at 8 years old. When he was 9, he had surgery to correct the curling shape of his body. Both of his hips were broken and straightened, and he spent an entire summer in a body cast. Even still, the family did not slow down. They have photos of young Kyle in a body-length wheelchair, smiling broadly on the sidelines of his brothers’ baseball games.

“Kyle gave us the gift of compassion,” said Brent, 41. “Compassion, inclusion, that’s just how we grew up. We didn’t stick him in a corner because he had a wheelchair. He was held to a high standard just like us. Strangers might want to feel sorry for Kyle, but Kyle has always wanted others to see him as a strong, capable individual, because that’s how he was raised.”

After high school, Kyle attended Kennesaw State University where he majored in sports management. He lived independently on campus with the aid of caregivers, who helped him with everything from eating, to changing clothes, to transportation.

“Caregivers are like my family,” said Kyle, 39, who works in customer service at Publix and lives on his own in Garden Hills. “My physical life depends on them. Without them I would not have a physical life or a sense of independence.”

Brent attended Florida State University and only had one thing on his mind.

“My professional aspiration was to party,” said Brent. “I didn’t have a thought about where I was going. I grew up in a house with more expectations on me than other kids. I participated in Kyle’s care — I helped him go to bed, change his clothes, go to the bathroom. We all pitched in, but I did my fair share. In college there were no strings, so I had my fun. It took time to figure out what I wanted to do.”

Brent graduated from FSU in 2005 and began selling condominiums, but lost the job four years later. He struggled financially working as a parking attendant before deciding to get his life back on course. Brent stopped drinking and started exercising. He scraped together $2,000 and bought a bike to train for a 70.3-mile Half Ironman. When he conquered that, he moved on to a full Ironman.

In 2010, as Kyle cheered for his big brother from the sidelines of the Ironman, he pictured himself in the competition.

“I was enthralled by everything going on that day, all the competitors and excitement,” said Kyle. “It reminded me of my life — all the struggles and ups and downs I face on a daily basis. After the race I asked Brent a lot of questions. My last question was if people in wheelchairs could do an Ironman. His answer was yes.”

The brothers began training together, going on long runs and bike rides, and working with a training coach.

“It’s a lot of time and dedication, but the most fun aspect is experiencing this stuff together,” said Brent, who lives in Chamblee with his wife Erica and their children, Caroline, 9, and Henry, 7.

Inspired to helps others

Kyle and Brent competed in their first Ironman together in April 2011. The experience was so exhilarating, Kyle decided he wanted to help disabled individuals have the same opportunity.

Six months later, the brothers launched the Kyle Pease Foundation to create awareness, raise funds to help disabled people compete in sporting events, provide scholarships and purchase adaptive sports equipment. The foundation has funded hundreds of athletes’ participation in everything from local 5K runs to Ironman competitions. In 2023 their nonprofit served 124 athletes and crossed 1,148 finish lines across 11 states.

With Kyle at the helm as CEO and Brent as executive director, the organization raised $7,000 in their first year and now have an annual budget of $1.6 million.

The brothers have big dreams for the foundation. While they hope to increase their athlete base, they are also focused on offering inclusive job opportunities within the foundation. They currently employ six disabled employees.

“We’ve built a community through the foundation,” said Kyle. “I didn’t know all these people would become part of our family, but that is what it’s become.

Brent agrees.

“Inclusion is at the core of what we do,” he said. “When you realize what that means to these families, not just the athletes we serve but their families, too, it builds them up. Everyone deserves to be included in life and have a community. That’s what we want to keep building.”

The joy of triumph

Last October, 40 loved ones flew to Hawaii to cheer on the duo on in the 2024 Kona Ironman World Championship while countless others kept up with live updates from afar. The foundation had built a capital fundraising campaign around the competition that rallied supporters across the nation and raised more than $1 million.

After an uncomfortable start thanks to the jellyfish, the Pease brothers completed the Kona Ironman in 14 hours, eight minutes and three seconds — their fastest time ever.

A few days later, Brent updated the foundation’s Facebook page with a picture of the brothers beaming at one another after they crossed the finish line.

“It was always all for you,” he typed below the photo.

“I am who I am because of my experiences with Kyle,” said Brent. “I’ve drawn love and inspiration from him my entire life. To be able to share that with others is one of the greatest gifts of my life.”


Working Mother Inspires Girls to Dig Deeper

Najiva Timothee believes in the power of mentorship. Through her nonprofit, Girls Dig Deeper, she helps girls unlock their potential and take control of their lives. Timothee, who is also a mother of four and a full-time employee at the Mercer University School of Law, has a busy life but said she will always find time to mentor “her girls.”

Timothee has lived in Macon for eight years. Her children, who range in age from 6 to 17, attend schools in Bibb County. In 2018, she read that the school district was trying to get people involved in the Mentor’s Project, a program that provides role models to middle and high school students in need of motivation and encouragement. Her interest was piqued.

“Growing up, I was involved in a youth group,” said Timothee, 43. “I leaned on those girls and our leaders so much. We are still so close today and, after all these years, I still feel the impact of the mentorship from that group.”

With a busy schedule to contend with, Timothee decided to devote one lunch hour each week to the program. She began at Ballard Hudson Middle School and visited with two sisters whose mom said they needed guidance. Soon, those girls had friends who wanted Timothee to mentor them, too. Two quickly became 12, and Timothee was provided a classroom to facilitate a weekly lunch and learn session for the girls.

“That’s when it all began to snowball,” said Timothee. “We talked about leadership, relationships, attitude issues, making good choices, all of it. My love for mentoring grew with those girls and we really, genuinely cared about each other. As our relationships blossomed, I decided I wanted to build my own program.”

Timothee established the Girls Dig Deeper Initiative in 2019. She chose that name because she wants girls to dip deep within themselves to expand their capacity, be a positive influence and take control of their lives.

Though attendance dwindled during the coronavirus pandemic, when virtual meetings were their only option, Girls Dig Deeper has grown over the years. Timothee has spent a lot of time meeting with school boards, program organizers and government officials at the Capitol, spreading the word about her program and the importance of mentorship.

The Girls Dig Deeper Initiative meets at the Rosa Jackson Recreation Center on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. In addition to those meetups, Timothee still goes into schools. She is partnered with two middle schools and two high schools and dedicates one lunch hour a week to mentoring. In addition, she has created The Winner’s Mindset Workshop leadership program, leads a weeklong summer program for girls and mentors incarcerated girls at the Macon Youth Detention Center through the prison ministry program at her church.

“I thank God for my husband, who is very supportive and knows my vision,” said Timothee. “He’s my partner, so whenever I’m with my girls, he’s with our kids. We’re all so busy, but we can all find time to carve out for others. I don’t exhaust myself or let my mentoring interrupt family time. I schedule my time with the girls around work and family. I fit it in and make it happen.”

The effort it takes to juggle everything is worth it, said Timothee.

“These girls feel loved, valued and cared about. That’s all I ever wanted. There’s structure to our time together, but there’s also fun. They feel safe, they know they belong, and I absolutely love that.”

As the Girls Dig Deeper Initiative heads into its eighth year, Timothee said she hopes it continues to grow.

“The goal is to have our own space or building one day,” she said. “I also want to do more with families and bring parents into the room. We held money management and mental health workshops and opened them to mothers and daughters. It was wonderful to have them in the room together.”

Timothee keeps in touch with her girls after they graduate.

“I hope they’ll continue to keep me updated about their lives, and I hope this experience will encourage them to mentor the next generation of young girls and teach them to dig deep.”

3D Technology Helps Little Girl See the World

Eight-year-old Catherine Reed can hold her head up unassisted for the first time in her life, thanks to a customized neck brace created by cutting edge 3D technology.

Catherine’s mother, Mary, knew something wasn’t right the second she was born via cesarean section.

“My first two kids came out screaming, but Catherine was completely silent,” said Mary, of Sandy Springs. “Her muscles were extremely floppy, and she was gray.”

As a nurse took newborn Catherine away to be worked on, Mary yelled, “Is she alive? Is she alive?”

“To be honest, she did not look alive, but the nurses saved her life,” said Mary. “They got her color back.”

During a 13-week stay at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta immediately after her birth, Catherine received a litany of diagnoses. Doctors told Mary and her husband, Rob, that Catherine’s seventh craniofacial nerve did not develop properly in her brain, which means her brain is unable to communicate to the muscles throughout her body. Because of this, her muscles are very weak and incapable of supporting her. Further, her jaw did not develop typically, she doesn’t have the reflux to swallow and her face is partially paralyzed.

She was 7 days old when she had her first surgery, a procedure to bring her jaw forward to help her breathe, and she’s had so many surgeries since that her parents have lost count.

At 8 years old, her days are just as harrowing as they were during infancy.

“We’re still on survival mode, taking one day at a time,” said Mary, who laughs when asked what normal looks like for their family. “Things change at the drop of a hat. Just this month alone she’s been in and out of the hospital three times. The word normal is relative, I guess.”

Catherine attended school for a few years but does not anymore. She would need a one-on-one, very skilled nurse on high alert all day and availability is slim, Mary said. In lieu of school, her days are filled with physical, speech and occupational therapies. At home, Mary focuses on sensory activities, like music and outings.

Catherine is nonverbal and, because her face is paralyzed, she is unable to smile. However, her mother can read her like her favorite book. She knows what her little girl doesn’t like (certain therapy exercises) and she knows what makes her happy.

“Catherine loves being outside,” said Mary. “I take her to outdoor concerts, and she loves going to the Atlanta Botanical Garden during the holidays to see the lights. She also loves to paint and create art.”

Most of all, Catherine loves when her older siblings, both college students, are home and she’s in the midst of the excitement.

“Catherine wants to be in the middle of conversations,” said Mary. “We aren’t quite sure how much of it she understands, but she loves when people talk to her. When she seems irritable, I’ll pick her up and talk with anyone in the house, because it calms her and makes her feel included.”

Engaging with others has been extra difficult for Catherine since she is unable to hold her head up on her own. Someone props her just right if she is sitting and, when she rides her adapted bicycle, it takes two hands to assist her, one to push the bike and another to hold her head.

About a year ago, after observing the struggle this caused Catherine’s caregivers and seeing that soft braces did not offer enough support for Catherine’s head, a physical therapist suggested a firm, custom brace, also referred to as a collar. Catherine already relies on a back brace, hand braces and braces for her lower extremities used strategically throughout the day, so Brian Emling, an orthotist-prosthetist at Children’s who has worked with Catherine for years, came up with a solution to give Catherine independent head control.

“We’ve been doing 3D printing in-house for about seven years,” said Emling. “Our leaders have all recognized how beneficial it is, especially in pediatrics because the anatomy is so unique, the needs are so unique and they require unique solutions.”

Emling custom-designed and printed a collar on an HP Multijet Fusion Printer that uses powdered nylon. The nylon powder is sprayed by a catalyzing agent then heated to make it solid. The process is done layer by layer until the process is complete. The final product has been life-changing for Catherine.

“She has responded to the collar so well,” said Mary. “It gave her a new perspective of the world. She is seeing things independently and I’m eternally grateful to Brian for going above and beyond for her. With her head in neutral and not flopped to the side, she can see the world around her. It makes her more approachable; it makes it more likely that people will come up and say hello. The impact is so significant.”

Emling said he did not appreciate how valuable the collar would be for Catherine’s providers, allowing them more ease when caring for her.

“Now they can take her out on her bike with a free hand to have a cup of coffee, take a picture of her or protect her if she were to fall,” said Emling. “But my greatest hope is that the collar continues to allow Catherine the opportunity to interact in her environment, to sit peacefully and observe life. I want her to be able to sit in the park, watch clouds go by, see the squirrels play and take that in. It’s so simple — something many of us take for granted — but it’s beautiful and I want that for Catherine.”

Ash Parker Loves Halloween

Photo by Jenni Girtman

I have not seen Ash Parker in over 15 years, but every year on Oct. 31 he emails me — and more than 3,000 others — to say, “Happy Halloween” and reveal an elaborate costume that never fails to amaze. Then he proceeds to wear his costume all day, which is surprising when you consider his job.

Parker, 48, is a senior vice president at Richard Bowers & Company, a commercial real estate firm in downtown Atlanta. That’s where we met. I was his assistant for nearly two years. His job is the suit-and-tie type, but on Halloween, he swaps the professional attire for a masterful disguise. While Halloween costumes might be expected in other jobs, like an elementary school teacher dressed up as a minion, for example, it’s not common to see a real estate broker walking down Peachtree Street dressed as Forrest Gump in his running era.

Parker is a single, empty nester now, but back in 2005 when I first met him, he was in his 20s, married with two young children, and five years into his career.

“I would’ve called myself shy in many ways back then, but sales helped with that because I love people so much,” said Parker.

He also credits his kids for helping pave the way to his Halloween fixation. Like most children, they loved to dress up for holiday, and Parker found their enthusiasm infectious. He’d been indifferent about dressing up in younger years, but no longer. The first year he dressed up as Colonel Sanders and Yoda the next. Then, in 2007 he donned leather pants and a long, curly black wig to transform into Slash from Guns N’ Roses.

“Everyone at work got a kick out of it,” Parker said. “But I distinctly remember feeling uncomfortable, even nervous. People on the street averted their eyes from me, and that’s the first time I’d ever felt that. I didn’t like that feeling.”

That day he went to The Vortex Bar & Grill for lunch and ordered a beer and a couple shots of whiskey with his burger. He jokes that the alcohol was partly method-acting and partly to quiet his nerves.

While some were put-off by the Slash costume, in 2012, Parker elicited the opposite reaction when he dressed up as Buddy the Elf from the Will Ferrell movie. That Halloween, strangers became friends, approaching him with waves and smiles, saying “Hi, Buddy!”

He experienced uncomfortable reactions again in 2019.

“I avoid meeting new clients while I’m dressed up to avoid making an unprofessional impression, but I deliver candy to past and existing clients on Halloween,” said Parker. “That year I dressed up as the Joker, and I remember knocking on a door, looking through a window and seeing the people inside looked hesitant or even too scared to let me in. Taking on a different persona for the day is an informative experience, for sure. I’ve gained a lot of insight into the human experience, and it reaffirms my desire to be as nonjudgmental and open-minded as I can.”

Jon Erickson, an attorney at Schulten Ward Turner & Weiss, and a former client of Parker’s, eagerly anticipates Parker’s annual Halloween visit.

“I don’t know any other adult who dresses up in the workplace,” said Erickson. “Ash’s costumes create fun for so many people. We look forward to it every year and can’t wait to see what he comes up with. I can picture him as Kurt Cobain and Doc Holliday. It’s a refreshing change of pace in what can be a pretty buttoned-up job.”

Parker begins planning his next costume the day after Halloween.

“It’s like that moment in ‘Elf’ when they celebrate the completion of Christmas and in the same sentence say, ‘Let’s get ready for next year,’” said Parker. “Sometimes I know right away, and sometimes I change my mind throughout the year, but no one else ever knows my costume until Halloween.”

Though he takes his time planning the costumes, he doesn’t do practice runs with the makeup. He just wings it on the big day. In 2018 he dressed up as Voldemort, he who shall not be named, and created a prosthetic nose for the first time ever without a hitch.

His costumes are neatly stored and easily accessible in his home. There’s a wide array of hats, wigs and ensembles he created himself.

In 2009 he wanted to dress up as Mel Gibson in “Braveheart,” but the costume cost more than $1,000. He went to a craft store and devoted about 10 hours of work to create a “Braveheart” costume that turned out great.

“If you look closely, my costumes are never 100%, but if people recognize the character you’re portraying, you did it right,” he said.

His Halloween e-mail blast is always themed accordingly. In 2017, the e-mail featured Parker as Abraham Lincoln, his profile branded on a penny. When he was Buddy the Elf, there were pictures of him sitting and standing on his boss’s desk. Last year, his email looked like a vibrant album cover featuring Parker as a David Bowie doppelgänger.

“Our family eagerly awaits the e-mail containing pictures of Ash in his always stellar guise,” said John Jordak, a friend of Parker’s. “David Bowie and the Joker are among my favorites. Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without Ash Parker.”

In Parker’s Morningside neighborhood, a block party is held every year on Halloween. The kids have pizza, the parents mingle, and three years ago, a new tradition began. Before they disperse on their door-to-door quest for candy, the children parade down the street to show off their costumes as parents and neighbors applaud with adoration.

“But every parade needs a leader, right?” said Parker. “I’d just become an empty nester when they started doing parades and was touched and honored when the parents with little kids asked me to lead the parade.”

If you blink you may miss it, as the parade travels just the length of a few houses, but there are anywhere between 50 and 100 participants with Parker at the helm.

“It’s the reaction from friends and family that feeds my energy to carry on,” said Parker. “I admit, walking around Atlanta on a workday in full costume can be daunting, but I’m willing to put myself in uncomfortable circumstances if there’s something to gain. … The risk is worth the reward.”

So, the big question is, what will Parker’s costume be for Halloween 2024?

Though his costume has never been revealed before Halloween, this year, Parker said, “Rules are made to be broken.” As a nod to the sequel of the 1988 classic, Parker is dressing up as Beetlejuice.

And, though he’ll save that costume for the big day, he has many more from his archives that he’ll wear throughout the month of October.

“I assume costume attire for every occasion in October, from happy hours to dinner parties,” said Parker. “If you invite me for dinner on Oct. 27, who knows who might show up at your door.”

Shepherd Sluggers

The Shepherd Sluggers may not have won the Wheelchair Softball World Series in August, but the team had its best-ever finish and believes it could be champions in the future.

Shepherd Center, Atlanta’s premiere brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation center, offers the Alias Family Sports Teams program, which enables individuals with physical disabilities to participate in sports on a recreational or competitive level. There are 10 teams that compete in local and regional competitions, as well as at the national and international levels. From fencing to water skiing, it is the largest disabled sports program in North America, benefiting many, including Kyle Benedict, shortstop for the Shepherd Sluggers.

Benedict was 16 when he was snowboarding near his home in upstate New York and had a freak accident.

“I was a very experienced snowboarder,” said Benedict, 42. “I went off a jump, not trying to do a crazy trick or anything. I got inverted and landed on my back. I’ve been in a wheelchair ever since.”

Benedict was in the hospital for 86 days for his spinal cord injury, which left him with paraplegia.

“It was tough being a teen. You already have enough to handle, then a huge life event like that happens. But the support around me was incredible,” he said. “I had friends in my hospital room every day and an entire wall papered with cards.”

Renovations were made to his family home to make it accessible for his wheelchair. That process gave him a new perspective of architecture as well as professional inspiration.

After graduating from high school, he moved to Georgia to attend Savannah College of Art and Design. He studied architecture and went on to open Commense Design Studio, a firm he’s owned for 12 years.

A couple of years after moving to Georgia, Benedict reached out to Shepherd Center in search of volunteer opportunities. He met Shepherd’s sports director, Matt Edens, who told him about all the sports he could try. Benedict ended up on the basketball team, the Shepherd Stealers.

“That was my first exposure to adapted sports and I loved it,” Benedict said. “I was a very active kid and teen, and it felt good to be back at it. But I learned basketball is tough when you have an injury like mine. It became frustrating for me. It’s hard not to be successful when you’re competitive.”

When Edens told Benedict he was thinking of starting a wheelchair softball team, Benedict’s answer was immediate: “I said, ‘Hell, yeah!’”

The team starts practice in April and plays through the end of the summer, when they travel to play in the Wheelchair Softball World Series.

“It was hilarious how bad we were in the beginning,” Benedict said. “I and one other guy have been on the team since the start, and it’s been quite the evolution. I don’t think a lot of people understand the competitiveness. Yes, it’s open to everybody, but we want players who are all in and understand we play to win.”

As with any sport, Benedict said wheelchair softball is not without frustrations. The thing that bothers him most is when players on other teams walk to the plate, then sit in a wheelchair to hit the ball.

“There are some full-sized dudes with all their faculties, smashing the ball with their big, strong hands, while our entire team swings the bat with one hand,” he said. “There are politics and bureaucracy, but a rule change is necessary and would make it more fun. All things considered, we’re still happy with our accomplishments.”

This season, the Sluggers played in four tournaments, winning two and finishing second in the other two. Through the Alias Family program, the players are provided with sports chairs and lodging, and travel expenses are covered for the World Series.

“I don’t know of any other facility that cares for their athletes the way Shepherd does,” said Brandon Clift, Shepherd’s sports specialist and coach of the Sluggers. “Gear, jerseys, flights, hotels — when a participant shows they’re committed, this program takes care of those things that can be a burden.”

This year, the World Series was played on Aug. 15-17 in Omaha, Nebraska. About 20 teams competed.

“There’s a wide range of skill level amongst the teams,” Benedict said. “Because of that, they break them up into two divisions, which means there are two champions. We’ve always been in the second, lower division, but this year we played in Division 1, which made us really proud.”

The team played six games over two days. Their final game was against a team from Chicago, the Hawks, who the Sluggers lost to earlier in the season.

The Sluggers led 8-4 going into the sixth inning, but that’s when things began to unravel.

“We play seven innings in wheelchair softball,” Clift said. “In the bottom of the sixth, there were some balls that came off the bat funny. One was a line drive that hit someone’s chair, and standard plays turned into bigger deals.”

The Sluggers still led 8-7 going into the final inning, but things again didn’t go their way.

“It was a game we shoulda, coulda won. It was heartbreaking,” Clift said.

The Sluggers lost 11-8 and placed finished sixth in Division 1.

“The great takeaway is that we improved so much and other teams around the country saw that we are legit,” Clift said. “We had our best team yet out there and I’m proud of how they played. I believe in the team and think we’ll continue to move up the rankings until we hit the top one day and win the World Series.”

Benedict believes the team will continue to improve. But in the meantime, he is just grateful for the opportunity to play the game he loves.

“We’re lucky to have not just such a great program, but amazing volunteers, like Brandon, who give their time to coach these teams,” Benedict said. “Anyone with a disability, light or severe, has the opportunity to play sports in some capacity and that’s incredible. It’s great to spend time with other disabled people and have that unique camaraderie.

“Our lives are all better because we have this outlet.”

Flowing with Blessings

Nicky Crawford is on a mission to serve Atlanta’s unhoused community, and his most recent venture — the Wash Bus, a mobile laundry service — is powered by the ingenuity of students from Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial Design.

It was years ago when Crawford, 72, who is retired from a decades-long career in construction, was up late reading and came across a story about a man who handed out toiletries to homeless people. The man realized those people had nowhere to shower and use those toiletries, so he purchased an RV with a shower and solved the problem.

“It was a few years later when God brought that story back to my attention,” said Crawford of Stone Mountain. “I tried to figure out how I could do it, how I could provide showers for unhoused people. Could I get a big truck? Could Marta give me a bus? Finally, in 2021, I found a church out in California that had built a trailer of showers out of a car hauler.”

Crawford reached out to the pastor of that church, who invited him to see how they operated their shower trailer. Around the same time, Crawford found a trailer for sale that had been converted with three three-piece bathroom stalls — a sink, shower and toilet in each. He purchased the trailer with his own money on Feb. 2, 2022, and decided to pursue Flowing with Blessings, a nonprofit that would encourage proper hygiene, restore dignity, and offer fresh hope through hot showers.

He didn’t know where he’d serve or who would help him, but trusted he’d figure it out.

About a week after purchasing the trailer, a friend of a friend, a doctor who works at Grady Memorial Hospital, reached out to Crawford and invited him to set up the trailer in the hospital’s parking lot for a trial run.

“We had four people that first day before we even publicized it,” said Crawford. “We had 17 people a day at the end of four weeks and now it’s about 50 people twice a week. We also have an overflow list in case we can accommodate extras. I asked Grady if we need to meet to discuss the trial, but they said no, keep going. That was 2 1/2 years ago.”

Flowing with Blessings is a first-come, first-serve operation. There’s always a line of regulars waiting when Crawford pulls up in his silver Silverado, hauling the shower trailer.

Showers are offered from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays beneath the covered area that connects the parking deck and the emergency room building. Around a dozen volunteers are led by Crawford’s daughter and chief of operations, Christina Moss. The volunteers clean the bathroom stalls after each use and provide people with toiletries, underwear, socks, and a change of clothes, if needed. One volunteer often brings pans of home-cooked delights like fried chicken and vegetables, enough to feed the crowd.

In early 2023, a young woman stepped out of the shower truck still bearing a strong odor. Crawford realized that, though she’d just showered, she was back in the filthy clothes she’d been wearing before.

“I had to figure out how to wash their clothes,” said Crawford. “Thus, the bus.”

Crawford purchased a smaller school bus in 2023, as well as seven washers and dryers. An e-mail was sent to Georgia Tech to inquire if anyone could help with the installation.

“I saw that e-mail and immediately thought ‘yes, this is a great project for my students,’” said Stephen Chininis, professor of practice at the College of Design for the School of Industrial Design. “Nicky had an idea and didn’t know where to start — that’s the perfect project for industrial design. We don’t mind if there are a lot of questions to be figured out. Industrial design is exactly that, the architecture of a product.”

Chininis is always looking for projects for his students. He gives them five to six to choose from and then they work on the project for a semester and receive a grade at the end.

“It’s hard to find a really good impact design project, something that affects the community and the world,” said Chininis. “I have plenty of students who are more motivated by that than making money at corporate design. When Nicky brought the bus over, the students were immediately excited, talking about all their ideas. There were five students involved and they were completely self-motivated. In fact, one student hadn’t been attending school much. He’d been having a tough time, but the project brought him back. I think this project gave the students more meaning.”

The students had to figure out the layout of the bus, how to transport water, how to get rid of water, workflow, and even came up with graphics and promotional pieces for the Wash Bus.

“Nicky immediately took the plan and started to build everything,” said Chininis. “Some of our students stayed involved beyond the actual assignment. One graduated and still volunteers with the project. You can’t help but want to help these folks.”

Crawford and Moss said the showers and clean clothes lead to other good things for the people they serve. Not only does cleanliness help with preventive health care, but it also makes people more presentable for job interviews and to attain housing.

“They come out of that shower and they’re like new people,” said Crawford. “They’re just like you and me. They want someone they can laugh and talk with, someone who shows concern for them. Christina will help them with housing, medical situations, banking. They inundate her with all kinds of things, and she does all she can. When they’re out on the streets they have to be so tough, but when they’re with us they’re our guests, like friends in our home. We get them to soften up and let them know they’re OK. We look for them, often find them asleep on the ground. We wake them, tell them we’re here, and it’s their turn.”

Chininis — who gave his students an A for the Wash Bus project — said industrial design folks refer to ideas like Crawford’s as insight. Crawford said it was simply obedience.

“God’s hand is all over this. I know what I heard. I’m just doing what I was told.”

To learn more about or to make a donation to Flowing with Blessings, visit www.flowingwithblessings.org.

Wilson Barron

Don’t underestimate Wilson Barron — the Atlanta Braves certainly don’t. Wilson is employed as a greeter at Truist Park. As guests flood into the stadium, he stands in the lobby outside the Xfinity Club, tossing balls to guests and hyping them up before games. And when they ask him questions, like the location of their seats, he answers them with the help of a device that speaks for him because Wilson is nonverbal. His job is the culmination of hard work and a heap of people who share a vision for inclusivity, and it’s proof that no dream is too big. “I’m just getting started,” Wilson said.

The Wilson Bus

Rachael and David Barron welcomed Wilson, the first of three sons, into the world 26 years ago. After a healthy, typical pregnancy, Wilson was delivered via emergency cesarean section and presented with breathing difficulties. He was transferred from Northside Hospital to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, where a geneticist performed a spinal tap and declared he would not live beyond age 4.

“She was wrong,” deadpans Rachael, 55.

When the Barrons witnessed the first birthday celebration of a neighboring baby in the neonatal care unit, a baby who had never left the hospital since birth, they became determined to get Wilson, 10 days old, discharged.

“They told us we couldn’t, and we said we were doing it with or without their approval,” said Rachael. “They taught us how to use a pulse oximeter and apnea monitor. We went home and the alarms didn’t stop sounding until he was 4 months old.”

The Barrons relied on their pediatrician, who helped them connect with specialists and therapists, and they learned a lesson that continues to guide them as parents.

“We drive the Wilson bus and people are invited on and off as experts, but ultimately, we’re in charge and responsible.”

School Years

For the first couple of years, Wilson had terrible episodes where he’d hold his breath so long that his heart would stop for up to 30 seconds. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 2 and had a pacemaker inserted shortly after.

“My friends’ babies were rolling and walking, and Wilson was still laying on the floor,” said Rachael. “They were at play dates, and we were at therapy.”

The early years were exhausting. The Barrons were in constant pursuit of the next best thing that could help Wilson.

Through fervent searching, they discovered an alternative muscle integration therapy called the Feldenkrais Method that claims to reorganize the connection between the brain and body to improve movement. They crossed the country, taking him to specialists in New York and San Francisco, who encouraged the Barrons to discontinue physical therapy, lay Wilson on the floor and let him play and explore at his own pace. He learned to crawl when he was 4 and was 6 when he learned to walk.

Along with his physical delays, Wilson’s speech did not develop. When he started school, the Barrons were disappointed to discover that the public-school system expected very little of him and focused on what he couldn’t do instead of what they could do for him.

“Perhaps I am just obstinate, but when people say someone can’t, I want to find a way that they can,” said Rachael. “Also, that is what I see as my role as a parent, to give my kids a push and at times a ramp to launch them to the best of their ability. Maybe one kid needs more time or support than another, but that only makes it more worthwhile.”

To make sure Wilson would grow and develop new skills, she learned to “surround (herself) with people who can buy into your person’s vision. If they don’t believe or if they try to limit, they don’t belong on the team.”

Rachael home-schooled Wilson for years, teaching him how to read with letter magnets. As he grew older, he struggled with math, but his language comprehension is on par with his peers.

Seven years ago, Wilson began using a program on his iPad called TouchChat, a communication solution for individuals who have difficulty using their voice. Wilson has the option to select vocabulary words to express himself or he can type out words and TouchChat will speak for him.

He eventually went back to public school and graduated high school at age 22. That’s when Wilson’s team, comprised of family and professionals, convened to figure out his next step.

Family Life

Wilson lives with his parents, a few dogs, and a cat in an old-turned-new home in Atlanta. David recently retired from a career as a management consultant, and Rachael is the founder and CEO of Effective Students, a business that provides executive function coaching services to students from grade school through college. Her experience raising neurodiverse learners inspired the company that is nearly 10 years old.

Wilson’s two younger brothers, Wyatt, 22, and Walker, 20, have flown the nest but maintain a close connection with their big brother.

The Barron family thrives on humor, mutually picking on one another, most often Walker, and Wilson is right in the mix.

Wyatt and Walker have always been protective brothers, even correcting a doctor years ago who spoke as if Wilson couldn’t understand anything he was saying.

“He may not have speech, but he has language,” the younger brothers piped up.

When Wyatt become a hunter, he insisted that Wilson needed to learn to shoot, too. Wyatt pulled Wilson up into the blind, reminded him not to make any noise and helped him shoot his first deer.

“That’s just the kind of brothers they are,” said Rachael.

Not Just Any Job

Meaghan Timko is the founder and owner of Parallel International Consulting, a company that helps families transition their neurodivergent or disabled child into and through adulthood. She, along with a resource called Together We Care, helped the Barrons put together their first team of caregivers and facilitators to provide respite care and to take Wilson on outings throughout the week, enabling him to fill his days with activities and purpose.

Parallel offers scaled pricing for families. They also provide private consulting services by the package or hourly rate. Since the services provided by schools and state agencies were not adequate, the financial piece to Wilson’s care has been costly.

“It was through enormous effort and investment of time and resources to secure private providers who were able to teach him in a way he could thrive,” said Rachael.

Her advice for other families like hers is to “educate yourselves, attend meetings to support one another, meet your legislators and inform them of what’s happening. If your child has graduated from high school, make sure they are receiving family support services through the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities funded by Now/Comp Medicaid waivers. If they are in school, she says, make sure their transition plan includes activities of daily living, communication and self-care. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. If you’re told no, ask why. We as parents must advocate for our children, and we should have an equal seat at the table in doing so.”

Wilson has a facilitator eight hours a day during the week. His schedule is bustling with workouts at ReClif, a fitness-based therapy center; Bible study with young adults with disabilities; volunteering at the Humane Society; jaunts to the grocery store; and lunches out at restaurants. He is also an athlete with the Kyle Pease Foundation and just finished a half ironman with two teammates in August.

In 2020, Timko met with the Barrons to explore the possibilities for Wilson’s future. He’d interned at the YMCA and served as a greeter at his church, but he expressed the desire for a bigger job like other young men his age had.

“We had to think outside the box and ask lots of questions,” said Timko. “We wanted to help him find not just any job, but a job he really wants. Wilson has always loved sports, and he loves baseball the most. We decided to go big and help him pursue a job with the Atlanta Braves.”

The first step was getting everyone on Wilson’s team to see the vision. The speech language pathologist had to make sure Wilson’s speech device would be programmed with the necessary language to be a greeter and the occupational therapist worked on his physical mobility. Everyone on the team has a role to play.

“Our job is to figure out how to get clients from point A to B,” said Timko.

With a facilitator at his side, Wilson showed up for his job interview in 2022 on time and well-dressed. He shook hands, went through two rounds of interviews and landed the job.

“Wilson is not the first nonverbal staff member hired for our gameday staff, and I don’t anticipate him to be the last,” said Katie Hearn, manager of gameday staffing and administration and club ADA coordinator for the Braves. “Our gameday staff is a diverse group of people who have a passion for providing excellent service in their own unique way. If an applicant shows us their desire to commit to being a member of our gameday staff, we try to work with them and their job coach / support staff to find a role they can succeed in.”

The Barrons are overjoyed by the Braves’ willingness to accommodate Wilson.

“From parking to making sure he and his facilitator have easy access to the stadium, they have been so inclusive and have made it to where nothing is hard,” said David, 62. “And the guests have received him just like anyone else, saying hi when they recognize him, they smile at him, and they’re kind.”

Wilson is wrapping up his third season with the Braves, and he expresses nothing but joy for his job.

“Helping others and making guest experience fantastic,” is how Wilson described his job. Asked about the hardest part, he typed, “I have an exceptional team that helps me out. It’s not hard.”

Timko has visited Wilson at work a few times.

“Seeing how happy he is at work makes me so happy. That’s my motivation,” said Timko. “I’ve known him long enough to read his posture and his presence. I can see that he’s really proud to be there. I think this job has changed a lot in him. It’s shown him what he’s capable of.”

Not long ago, Timko asked Wilson what was on his bucket list. It was vast and included things like run a marathon, go horseback riding, indoor skydiving, skiing, go to New York City, be on TV, be in a print ad, get a tattoo, ride in a limo. Wilson then used his device to type words so profound they brought tears to Timko’s eyes. She wrote them down and said she will keep them forever.

“My motivation is burning in my heart. My body shows no such flame,” Wilson said. “Don’t underestimate me and the intellect I have been given by God.”

His message may not be loud, but it is clear. Don’t underestimate Wilson Barron.

25 Years After Hand of Hope Photo, Man with Spina Bifida Continues to Inspire

Sam Armas had no idea how to play handball just a few months ago, and now he is preparing to compete in the Wheelchair Handball World Championships in Cairo, Egypt, starting today through Sept. 21.

Crazier things have happened to him — like becoming famous for a photo taken of him while he was still in utero. Born with spina bifida, Sam, 24, said his entire life is proof that everything works for good.

Sam’s mom, Julie, was 14 weeks pregnant with him, her first son, when she learned he had spina bifida, a birth defect that occurs when a baby’s spine does not form normally. As a result, the spinal cord and nerves are exposed and often damaged.

“My parents tried to get pregnant for years, and when they finally did they were faced with all those unknowns,” said Sam Armas, of Villa Rica.

Julie and Alex, Armas’ dad, learned about an experimental fetal surgery for spina bifida being studied at Vanderbilt University. Performed while the child is in utero, the procedure closes the lesion and minimizes other issues, such as a Chiari malformation, a neurological disorder that causes hydrocephalus, an excessive accumulation of fluid in the brain.

The Armases were approved for the operation and learned that USA Today wanted to cover the surgery because 21 weeks gestation was one of the earliest fetal surgeries ever conducted. After some hesitance, Julie agreed to allow a photographer into the operating room, which is how the Hand of Hope photo was captured.

During the surgery, the photographer, Michael Clancy, watched a tiny fist burst through an incision on Julie’s uterus. The hand flailed back and forth, then the surgeon grabbed it and the little hand, Sam’s hand, squeezed the surgeon’s finger. Clancy captured the remarkable moment, and the photo was featured on the cover of USA Today on Sept. 7, 1999 — the Hand of Hope.

The photo, recognized worldwide, has followed Sam Armas throughout his life. He learned of his fame when his elementary class Googled themselves, and he has garnered plenty of attention from anti-abortion groups who refer to the photo as evidence of life before birth. Last fall, while Armas was in Italy for a professional wheelchair basketball game, a reporter knew exactly who he was and asked to interview him about the Hand of Hope photo.

Armas learned how to walk at 21 months old and has worn braces on his lower legs to support his ankles ever since. He relies on a wheelchair for extended distances, like when he travels, and for sports. He grew up playing every sport he could. He tried wheelchair tennis and adaptive swimming, but his favorite sport as a child was baseball.

“It was able-bodied baseball, and I was a pitcher,” Armas said. “I didn’t throw any breaking pitches, but I threw heat. It was a lot of fun, but when I got to the point where I could hit the ball to the outfield and still get thrown out at first because I was running so slow, I moved on to wheelchair basketball.”

Armas played for BlazeSports America, adapted sports for youth and veterans, from grades 6 to 12. He loved wheelchair basketball so much that he narrowed his college search by schools with wheelchair basketball programs.

“I was recruited by Alabama, Auburn, Southwest Minnesota State, Mizzou and Illinois, but the visit to Auburn sold me,” Armas said. “The appeal of staying in the Southeast was nice, but it was also a very new program and I loved the coach’s vision for the team.”

As Armas worked on his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration, he played five seasons of wheelchair basketball at Auburn. He also played wheelchair basketball for the under-23 USA team in the 2021-2022 season. He traveled to Phuket, Thailand, where the team won sixth place in the world championship.

He graduated with his master’s in May 2023 and began working for the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, helping disabled people get employed. He would love to work for the federal government one day and has no plans of slowing down with sports.

Last fall he played professional wheelchair basketball for GSD Porto Torres in the Serie A Italian league. He is unsure who he will play for this upcoming season, but he has another sport to focus on in the meantime.

“Handball is a very pleasant surprise that occurred over the last few months,” Armas said. “One of the assistant coaches from Auburn, Ford Dyke, is the head coach of the U.S. wheelchair handball team. He knew I’d never played the sport, but he asked me to come try it out and I thought, ‘Why not?’”

Handball moves quickly. It’s essentially like soccer with your hands, Armas said, with a goal on each side of the court and four players from each team trying to get the ball in the net.

“I’m familiar with that throwing motion, kind of like pitching, and have taken to it quickly,” Armas said.

So quickly, in fact, that he made the final cut to make the U.S. team that will go to Egypt to compete in the World Championships. Joining him on the 10-person team are two other Georgians — Atlanta’s Elizabeth Pentecost and Lawrenceville’s Najee Smothers.

“I can’t wait to see the pyramids and museums,” Armas said. “I’m a history nerd, so seeing archaeological hieroglyphics, mummies and tombs would be so exciting. I feel fortunate and know only good things could come from an opportunity like this. Wheelchair basketball will always take priority, but I’m so excited to play handball and to go represent the USA in an international competition. Regardless of the sport you’re playing, it’s always a privilege to wear those three letters across your chest and compete.”

Armas said he often forgets he has a disability but never shies away from the conversation.

“What an awesome testament that God is always in control,” Armas said. “My start was not necessarily ideal, but look how it’s all worked out.”