Megan's Story

Created in partnership with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network for their Gala in the Garden, Megan's Story is a short documentary portrait of 16-year-old Megan Miller, whose life changed overnight after a traumatic injury left her completely paralyzed. The film follows Megan's recovery journey and the care team supporting her, capturing the physical work of rehabilitation alongside the emotional reality of starting over.

I served as director and editor, shaping the film through interviews, archival and vérité footage, and a structure designed to honor Megan's experience without sensationalizing it. The goal was to let the story breathe: to hold both the heartbreak and the beauty, and to make the audience feel the human stakes behind the hospital walls, what it takes, minute by minute, to rebuild a life.

This project exists because stories like Megan's can't be reduced to inspiration. They deserve craft, patience, and respect, an approach that treats recovery not as a miracle montage, but as sustained courage and collective care. Good Shepherd's work is often unseen by the outside world: the quiet repetitions, the incremental victories, the moments where hope feels fragile and then returns.

The film was created for an audience gathered to support that mission, and it helped translate care into action. Shown to more than 500 gala attendees, the piece contributed to a record $329,000 raised for the Emily Howatt Pliskatt Pediatric Unit, making the 2019 Gala in the Garden Good Shepherd's most successful event to date. For me, it's a reminder of what documentary can do at its best: not just tell a moving story, but connect people to a cause in a way that feels personal, immediate, and real.