ATLANTA — Chazmin Grant loves cheering people on -- so much so that she was a cheerleader for years.
"I'm just used to just flipping around the house and doing things like that," Grant said.
Grant said she was never able to sit still, always wanting to be moving.
That is until January 2018 when Grant was hanging out with her friends one night.
"It was a drive by shooting. I was the only one to get shot in by a stray bullet," Grant said. "You're hanging out one second, walking one second, and then it's like your legs are limp and you can't feel them anymore."
Grant suffered a spinal cord injury, losing the ability to walk.
She spent months at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta -- getting surgery, recovering and going through both inpatient and outpatient rehab.
Then, she met Caitlin Jones, a Children’s Health Care of Atlanta physical therapist at Day Rehab, who created the Specialized Progression of Independence and Wellness for Adolescents with a Spinal Cord Injury (SPINE) program.
"They know how to reenter the community at a basic level," Jones said. "But our job with SPINE is to take them to the next level and show them what they're truly capable of reaching."
Jones said they teach those in the week-long, free program about ADA rights and resources. The program also goes over maximizing the patient's independence.
"We go out in the community, and we practice going to a local grocery store," Jones said. "And we practice job responsibilities as if we're working at the grocery store, stocking shelves, unboxing groceries, using the the belt and chains, checking out and bagging groceries."
Jones said the patients will also do things like re-learn how to go to the gym and partner with Delta Air Lines so the kids and teenagers can practice going through security and getting on a plane.
Grant participated in the program following her injury.
"She is incredible," Jones said. "She she is one of my most special patients I've ever had and will ever have. She is the the epitome of a hard working patient who has not let this injury overcome her, but she has overcome the injury."
In 2023, Grant became SPINE's intern.
"I love it. Isn’t it just a full circle moment?" Grant laughed.
She offers peer support for the teenagers going through similar experiences and feelings that she knows all too well.
"I know how it is not having someone to look up to or being in a wheelchair," Grant said. "So just being that support and being an example for kids who are in the same position I was in 2018. Being newly injured and haven't necessarily been able to experience life since they've been injured. It just really makes me happy."