--- title: "Sutter Rehabilitation Institute – A Hero’s Recovery | Sutter Health" description: "Travis went from fisherman to hero after he shielded his friends from an assailant with a gun." url: "https://www.sutterhealth.org/patient-stories/sutter-rehabilitation-institute-a-heros-recovery-1042868390" --- 1. [Home](https://www.sutterhealth.org/) / 2. [Patient Stories](https://www.sutterhealth.org/patient-stories) / 3. Sutter Rehabilitation Institute – A Hero’s Recovery # Sutter Rehabilitation Institute – A Hero’s Recovery * * * 2023 After heroically shielding a friend from a gun-wielding assailant while on a fishing trip, Travis was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the head. Unable to walk and barely able to talk, he went to the Sutter Rehabilitation Institute’s Traumatic Brain Injury Program. Within 15 days, they were able to not only help Travis walk again, but also recover his verbal ability through speech therapy. ## Discover similar stories Choose a service topic below to read more stories like this one. [Physical therapy and rehabilitation](https://www.sutterhealth.org/patient-stories?verticalKey=patient_story&facets=%5B%7B%22i%22%3A%22c_services.name%22%2C%22v%22%3A%5B%22Physical+therapy+and+rehabilitation%22%5D%7D%5D)[Acute inpatient rehabilitation](https://www.sutterhealth.org/patient-stories?verticalKey=patient_story&facets=%5B%7B%22i%22%3A%22c_services.name%22%2C%22v%22%3A%5B%22Acute+inpatient+rehabilitation%22%5D%7D%5D) ## Let Us Ease Your Mind Our neuroscience teams provide specialized, patient-centered care using the most advanced treatments. 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[View all articles](https://www.sutterhealth.org/patient-stories) ## Disclaimer _Each individual’s treatment and/or results may vary based upon circumstances and the healthcare provider’s medical judgment. 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Unable to walk and barely able to talk after a shot to the head, he came to the Sutter Rehabilitation Institute. ","duration":"PT3M53S","transcript":"[MUSIC PLAYING]\nTRAVIS: It was April 18, 2021.\nDAISHA: We went fishing with our family,\nand a man approached us and brandished a gun\nand shot our friend first, and Travis stepped in.\nAnd he took four bullets to make sure we were safe.\nTRAVIS: I was shot in the hand, I was shot in the groin,\nand I was shot in the leg.\nDAISHA: Then the man shot him point blank in the head.\nThe very first night, they told me he\nwasn't going to make it through the night.\nIt was unstable.\nTRAVIS: I was in a coma for nine days.\nThey knew that the severity of the injury--\nit was going to take a lot of work\nto get me back to-- as close as I could be to a full recovery.\nI could barely talk.\nI definitely couldn't walk.\nDAISHA: I started trying to do some research on rehabs\nthat have dealt with his traumatic brain injuries\nspecifically.\nWe looked into all of them on the West Coast, all the way out\nto Detroit, even.\nThen we chose Sutter Health.\n\nPAT: The Sutter Rehabilitation Institute\nis a CARF-accredited inpatient rehab\nfacility that's part of Sutter Roseville Medical Center.\nOur traumatic brain injury program is very unique.\nIt really is about controlling the environment\nto make sure that they're not overstimulated,\nand it helps with their recovery from a behavioral perspective.\nTRAVIS: On the physical level, they\nwanted to make sure that I could do basic things,\njust like taking steps.\nWhen we got a little bit more advanced with it,\nwe moved to the ZeroG machine, which\nis a fully supported system that holds you\nin balance so you don't fall.\nAfter a couple minutes of being in that machine,\nI started to feel comfortable myself.\nDAISHA: They were able to sit with me.\nThe psychologists talked to me a lot about some\nof the upcoming problems we're going\nto have and hurdles and obstacles that we were going\nto face for years to come.\nAnd it was very helpful to get us back on track.\nTRAVIS: Specifically in the speech section,\nI was fumbling over a lot of words when I came in there.\nThe progression that I had through the speech therapy\nhelps me to this day.\nAnd it was extremely important that I\nwas able to move forward and actually\narticulate myself with what I want\nto say when I need to say it.\nDAISHA: He would be mixing up words,\nand I wouldn't really understand.\nBut they gave me the tools that I\nneeded to make sure that we could communicate better.\nTRAVIS: My progression was pretty fast.\nWe were there for 15 days, and we\nwere expected to be there for six to eight weeks.\nSo we actually had a welcome home party.\nAnd as soon as I get out of the car,\nmy friend that was in the incident with us\ngives me maybe the best, most powerful hug I ever\nreceived in my entire life.\nAnd then it was just a joy and a celebration\nof me being home with my daughter,\nme being home with my now-wife.\nBeginning of March, I was able to go back to work.\nDAISHA: There was the conversation about him\nnot going to rehab.\nAnd I said that him not going to rehab\nis something we can't afford.\nWe need him to be back, to be able to move on from this.\nAnd without Sutter Health, I don't\nthink we would have been there."} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/patient-stories/sutter-rehabilitation-institute-a-heros-recovery-1042868390#article","name":"Sutter Rehabilitation Institute – A Hero’s Recovery","headline":"Sutter Rehabilitation Institute – A Hero’s Recovery","abstract":"Travis went from fisherman to hero after he shielded his friends from an assailant with a gun.","description":"Travis went from fisherman to hero after he shielded his friends from an assailant with a gun.","keywords":["Physical therapy and rehabilitation","Acute inpatient rehabilitation"],"datePublished":"2023-01-01","dateModified":"2026-08-14","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/patient-stories/sutter-rehabilitation-institute-a-heros-recovery-1042868390","inLanguage":"en-US","isAccessibleForFree":true,"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/patient-stories/sutter-rehabilitation-institute-a-heros-recovery-1042868390","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/patient-stories/sutter-rehabilitation-institute-a-heros-recovery-1042868390#breadcrumblist"}},"author":{"@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization"},"publisher":{"@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization"},"video":{"@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/patient-stories/sutter-rehabilitation-institute-a-heros-recovery-1042868390#videoobject"},"articleBody":"After heroically shielding a friend from a gun-wielding assailant while on a fishing trip, Travis was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the head. Unable to walk and barely able to talk, he went to the Sutter Rehabilitation Institute’s Traumatic Brain Injury Program. Within 15 days, they were able to not only help Travis walk again, but also recover his verbal ability through speech therapy."} ```