Rehab at Shepherd Center helps local man recover from car crash

A Fayetteville man has recovered from serious injuries he received in an auto accident when his car was hit broadside by a sport utility vehicle.
For three weeks after the accident, Jason Jackson, 21, was in a drug-induced coma to keep his body and brain still while he recuperated from a severe brain injury, internal injuries and broken bones. The accident also left him paralyzed on the right side of his body.
Now Jackson is back at home after rehabilitation at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, the country’s largest rehabilitation hospital for brain and spinal cord injuries.
At Shepherd, Jackson had to relearn how to walk and talk. Physical therapists helped him regain strength on the right side of his body, while speech therapists worked to help him regain reading, memory and concentration skills.
After almost four weeks in Shepherd’s inpatient unit, Jackson transferred to Shepherd Pathways, a day program that helps patients perfect day-to-day skills needed to live as independently as possible.
Jackson progressed from using a wheelchair to a walker and then to a simple cane for support. That’s a long way in over eight months, especially since it takes a long time for brain injuries to heal, experts say.
“I’m just glad to be here,” Jackson said.
Shepherd Center also helps treat patients with spinal cord injury and disease, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular disorders and urological problems.