MORROW COUNTY, Ohio — Dawn Adkins knows a thing or two about overcoming challenges.
The mother of two is a Navy veteran and worked through the COVID-19 pandemic as a nurse practitioner in Columbus.
Now, she is facing her biggest challenge yet: regaining her independence after a shooting at her Chesterville home in April left her paralyzed from the neck down.
Dawn had been married to her husband Joshua Boucher for about ten years, but her brother David Greenlee said no one knew about the alleged abuse happening behind closed doors until recently.
In March, Dawn began the process of leaving Joshua.
On April 1, Greenlee got a call from their mother who told him Dawn had been shot in the face.
“My phone rang and a tingle went up my spine, I knew exactly what was going on,” he said.
Boucher was arrested two counties over and charged with felonious assault.
“Hindsight being 20/20, I should have jumped in the truck the night before and drove down and I didn’t. That is something I will regret forever but talking to Dawn about it, she knows it is not my fault. She is not putting blame on me, but I will always have a little blame I will carry for it because of that," Greenlee said.
It was not until after the shooting that Dawn’s family learned about the cameras Boucher had placed around their house and the time they say he threatened Dawn and her mother with a gun.
“Things were talked about then kind of laughed off and maybe they should have been, maybe they should have been brought into the light,” Greenlee said.
He wants people to know domestic violence can happen anywhere.
“There is that small town stigma, everyone knows everybody, everybody is in everybody’s business so they all know what is going on. It is one of those things where you are a little embarrassed so you try and stay as quiet as possible. They are in a small town like that, there aren’t as many resources for someone in an abusive relationship to go and get the help they might need,” Greenlee said.
There were questions on whether Dawn would survive the shooting. She did, but was left paralyzed from the neck down.
She is recovering at a nursing home and has regained small movements in her arms.
“She wants to fight, admirable, she is tough, she has always been tough. She had to be,” Greenlee said.
Her goal is to move back home. Her daughter and mother plan to come help, but David said it will take a lot of work to make the home accessible.
That is where her village comes in.
Dawn’s neighbor, Debbie Snell, has been spreading her story around her small town and has found people willing to help with construction and installing wheelchair ramps. Others have stepped up to mow the lawn and check on her utilities.
Snell is also organizing a benefit for April. Dawn’s goal is to make it back home by the spring when her daughter graduates high school.
“I cannot shut my front door and pretend this never happen when I drive right past it. Something has to be done,” Snell said. “Her story has to be shared for other women to step up and to be there for others and for her. Someone needs to be there for her. Her goal is to come home this spring, her house has to be ready for her because she is always going to be in a wheelchair now.”
Dawn also wants to go back to work.
“Her patients, they have reached out and they miss her, they love her,” Greenlee said.
Greenlee and Snell are hoping people who hear her story and are in an abusive relationship will think about reaching out for help.
“If they can get involved, if they know something like this is happening, try to get involved reach out to somebody that you think might be a victim because you never know when that one little branch you are putting out there could be the branch they are counting on for safety,” he said.
The family has set up a GoFundMe which can be found here.
If you or someone you know needs help to get out of an abusive situation call the free National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or LSS CHOICES 24/7 hotline at 614-224-4663.