Adept at Life

A Richmond athlete earns a college scholarship to play wheelchair basketball, plus more of the week's health news

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Cor’Rales Dupree is officially a Fighting Scot.

Dupree is an athlete who has earned a scholarship to play wheelchair basketball for Edinboro University  in Pennsylvania. The 21-year-old signed with the school at an event held Tuesday at Lawrence Rehabilitation – The Gait Center in Richmond.

He headed to training camp on Wednesday. School starts Aug. 27. Dupree plans to major in physical therapy and minor in coaching. It’s going to be a major adjustment for Dupree. The school lies east of Lake Erie and averages 105 inches of snow each year.

It’s a long way from Richmond, but then, Dupree has already come a long way. He lost his left leg after he was shot and nearly died on Thanksgiving Day in 2012. He was trying to protect his mother and a brother when he was shot. You can read about it in an earlier profile here.

A determined Dupree had played football and wanted to return to the sport, but discovered adaptive sports (sled hockey) at Camp No Limits in Connecticut, then began playing wheelchair basketball with Sportable last fall. That led to his joining a professional team, the Richmond Rim Riders, and the collegiate opportunities.

“He was a great athlete and had a good feel for it,” says Hunter Leemon, executive director of Sportable.

The Gait Center’s David Lawrence, who worked extensively with Dupree in his rehabilitation, played basketball at Edinboro in his collegiate days. Lawrence was able to talk with him about the school and what to expect.

“That sealed the deal for me,” says Dupree.

Dupree is always giving back. He mentors others, including Gait Center clients, and works with kids through the YMCA and at the Connecticut camp.

“Cor'Rales has been a positive role model at Camp No Limits connecting with others,” says camp Director Mary Leighton via email. “He attended last year for the first time, and his eyes were opened to a whole new world of possibilities. … I am excited to see how he will excel in his newfound passion.”

About 30 people were on hand for the signing, part of the extensive team of family and friends who have Dupree's back. “I feel like I’m very blessed with my supporters,” he says. “Everybody there was like family to me.”

Robin Yoder is an oncology social worker and one of Dupree’s biggest boosters. She lost a leg to cancer seven years ago and has stayed active. He watched her at the clinic and was inspired.

“I saw what she could do and it motivated me,” he says.

Dupree’s first love was football, but then he discovered adaptive sports and proved to be a natural.

As Yoder notes, he “got a different opportunity.”

Dupree talked with his friends and advocates and decided to take a chance.

"If you don’t take this chance, sometimes these opportunities don’t come back around,” says Yoder. “All of us who have stood with him, we’ll be cheering him right to wherever this takes him. I’m so proud of him; it takes a lot of courage.”

Dupree shows “a great deal of athleticism and untapped talent,” according to the Edinboro coach, Jim Glatch. “Cor'Rales is an incredible young man who I believe will do amazing things while here,” he says.The school plays a 32-game season, with the first practice Sept. 15 and the season opener at home in a non-college tournament on Nov. 11. Edinboro plays in the National Wheelchair Baskeball Association’s intercollegiate division, which also includes teams from larger schools such as Illinois, Arizona State, Auburn and Alabama. Glatch is entering his 23rd year as head coach for Edinboro. The school has fielded adaptive sports teams for 32 years.

Glatch says wheelchair basketball, as with any sport, is a tool for teaching and development. Wheelchair basketball adds another aspect in showing what people with disabilities can do, instead of what they can’t.

“It shows the individual that they are no different than someone that isn't disabled, and it teaches others the importance of not stereotyping someone,” Glatch says in an email. “Our players learn life skills that they will use every day and into their adult life for vocation and socialization. We teach communication, leadership, self-reliance, team work and overall independence.”

You can see Dupree in action at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 17 in a wheelchair event to raise awareness of gun violence and domestic violence. It will be held at his old school, Thomas Dale High School, 3626 W. Hundred Road in Chester.

HEALTHY DEVELOPMENTS

A roundup of the week’s health and medicine news

  • North Side residents can get their children ready for the upcoming school year with a free haircut and free school supplies for city public school students at the annual WE Care Festival, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Hotchkiss Field Community Center, 701 E. Brookland Park Blvd. Free blood pressure checks and health care information will also be available at the 11th annual event. Call 804-321-5115 or email cwatson@bgcmr.org for more information.
  • Grow out your upper-lip hair and help out several nonprofits that benefit children through the annual Mustaches 4 Kids Richmond fundraiser. The campaign raised more than $200,000 last year and benefits groups including the Children’s Hospital Foundation, SCAN and the ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation.
  • Suzanne Bertsch is the new chief nursing officer for Johnston-Willis Hospital. Bertsch earned a bachelor’s in nursing from Florida Community College and a master’s in healthcare science from Nova Southeastern University. She has worked with HCA-affiliated hospitals since 2002 and comes to Richmond from an HCA facility in Fort Pierce, Florida, the Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute, according to a release.
  • Three certified nurse midwives have joined Bon Secours Richmond OB-GYN at Bon Secours Saint Mary’s Hospital: Dana Taylor, Leann Parker and Julie Weathers. Parker served 13 years as a labor and delivery nurse before earning a master’s in nursing with a specialty in midwifery from Frontier Nursing University, according to a release. Taylor followed a similar path, working 15 years in labor and delivery before earning a master’s in nursing and as a women’s health nurse practitioner, then a post-master’s degree in nurse midwifery from Shenandoah University. Weathers completed the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing program after serving as a labor and delivery nurse.
  • DWH Health & Wellness Med Spa is set to open Tuesday at 11739 W. Broad St. in Short Pump. It is operated by Dominion Women’s Health and will offer health and beauty treatments, hormone balancing, and bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, according to a release.
  • A collaborative care program has been set up by the Bon Secours Liver Institute of Virginia and the University of Virginia Health System to care for patients who may need liver transplants at UVA. Teams from both programs will work together to provide coordinated care for patients with liver disease. St. Mary’s Hospital is part of the program. The patients will receive an initial evaluation at St. Mary’s, and a formal transplant evaluation will be performed that the UVA Transplant Center. Candidates for a transplant will receive care at the Bon Secours facility and make periodic trips to Charlottesville while they are on the wait list.