A standard medical education consists of four years of classroom and clinical learning. For some, though, there are more twists and turns, more trials and tribulations to deal with before receiving a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree.
That was the case for Davy Shepherd Jr, D.O.
Shepherd spent much of his teenage years sleeping on a different couch or floor each night. For the second time, his parents’ marriage was deteriorating and by 17 years old he was living on his own. He took odd jobs to make money — working in restaurants and painting apartments, where he would often sleep because he had no better place to go. With a turbulent personal life on the streets, the Phoenix, Ariz., native was witness to stabbings, shootings, drug deals and other catastrophic situations.
At 19 years old, Shepherd decided he wanted to finish high school. That was, after all, where he first realized he wanted to be a physician, when a serious automobile accident involving him and his cousin left his cousin in a hospital for several weeks with Shepherd at his bedside. During that time a seed was planted, and that seed grew into action after Shepherd met his wife, Sally, who gave Shepherd a reason to leave the streets behind and pursue a new journey.
“Sally was the spark in my world, the catalyst for my academic endeavors,” he said. “An amazing woman with a passion for learning, she saw potential in me and encouraged me to pursue a childhood dream— becoming a physician. In the space of a year, Sally completed her master’s degree in public education, I received my bachelor’s degree and we married. With my wife’s support, I continued taking classes and set my sights on medical school, which I began in 2006.”
But the path to becoming a physician is not always a straight one.
While Shepherd said he initially struggled with the rigorous demands of medical school and caring for his first child, who was born just weeks after school started, he eventually found a way to balance his responsibilities. After Shepherd and his wife learned they were expecting a second child, they learned during Sally’s third trimester that she had lung cancer.
“My wife had been coughing up blood occasionally while pregnant. Ultimately, she was sent to University of Virginia hospital in Charlottesville, Va., and diagnosed with lung cancer. Surgery was scheduled following the delivery of our daughter at 36 weeks. After Sally’s surgery it was determined that she had had a collapsed lung for about a year, and she then suffered complications of acute respiratory distress syndrome, necessitating a stay in the ICU [intensive care unit] for several weeks,” Shepherd explained.
Due to complications from the respiratory distress, Shepherd’s wife was placed in a medically induced coma for several weeks. Between his wife’s hospitalizations and trying to care for his 14-month-old daughter and new baby, Shepherd missed more than a month of classes. Sally returned home, but an oncologist cautioned the couple that recurrence was a possibility.
"In the hospital, when her fate was uncertain, I knew my focus on Sally would hurt me academically, possibly to the extent of preventing me from becoming a physician. I also knew that my time with her was more important. I could live with the regret of not finishing medical school,” Shepherd said. “Between the hardships of the year and the toll they exacted on my academics, I realized the best thing to do was to step away from medical school and rally around my family.”
Life’s hardships can change the trajectory of one’s path. While Shepherd had a new appreciation for spending time with his family, he continued to feel the pull of medicine, so he gave himself a personal goal of returning to medical school within five years. Ultimately, giving up on his dream wasn’t an example he wanted to set for his two daughters.
“As a father, I felt that this was an important lesson to teach my daughters, that while life may not always go your way, you should continue to believe in yourself and persevere through the difficult times,” he said. “I also felt my experience could be an asset to future patients, as I had a deeper understanding of what some of them might be going through in their most difficult times.”
After a handful of difficulties to deal with, Shepherd re-enrolled in medical school in 2015. The second time, the path was a bit straighter. With less worry about caring for his family and a solid study group with a few classmates, Shepherd was more inspired than ever to become a doctor.
“This group was important because we all helped each other with different learning styles. We were really good about making sure no one was left behind when it came to understanding the material. As a group we tried to simulate the difficulty of our exams and practicals by posing tough questions, never pulling our intellectual punches. We challenged and pushed each other, and I believe this was integral to all our successes throughout medical school,” he said.
Thirteen years after Shepherd began his medical education, he was one of 199 medical students in the Class of 2019 to receive his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from WVSOM. He is completing an internal medicine residency at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas, where he said he hopes his life experiences will make him a more understanding physician.
“Life’s trials have made me strong, and I intend to be an advocate and champion for my patients,” he said.