Support Chase Strong's Stroke Recovery Journey

Chase Strong is a Navy Veteran. We have 3 kids between us; one is in his sophomore year in college, the youngest just graduated high school in June, and the oldest is working in the local community. We treasure all three of these boys.

On July 8th, Chase woke up and was unable to use his right arm and leg, his speech was slurred as he yelled for help. I (his wife) was 150 miles away in Eastern Washington with family, but the boys were with him. His oldest called 9-1-1, and they rushed him to the ER. He had multiple scans and tests. By the time I spoke to a doctor, he was having an angiogram, or had one, and they had attempted to remove the clot. He spent about 10+ days in the ICU, then he was moved to another floor. We celebrated Chase's birthday; he wouldn't even eat ice cream for us, but we tried to celebrate. Shortly after that, the youngest son turned 18.

August came, and about the middle of the month, he moved to a skilled nursing facility. He has done very well with the physical and occupational therapy. He has had such little exposure to speech therapy that we really have to make the move to the acute rehab, where Chase will have therapy 3 hours a day—both PT/OT and speech.

We have been waiting all week to hear about the move, but no news. Of course, I would prefer to have him home with us for Christmas and the New Year.

To get ready for Chase to come home, I am starting on the list to prepare:

I am sure there is more; a social worker will come to the house and tell me what I need to get and get rid of. At least the landlord finally fixed the plumbing after over 4 weeks! Too bad our washing machine still doesn't work... it could be the gray water sitting in it for FOUR WEEKS!!

Before his stroke, Chase and I were struggling to make ends meet (like so many others). With prices on everything going up and up, and Chase had already been having health issues for over a year and a half. He was having digestive issues. He had been off work for the last year and suffering from deep depression. One development from all of this is that Chase was wearing a heart monitor until today (12/20) to see if he has any heart issues that may have caused any problems. A problem with your heart can cause blood clots. He had a couple of small strokes on the right side of his brain either at around the same time or within the prior weeks (this is me not always following the doctors, but it didn't sound like they were confident on the timeline). His neurologist is also suspicious of his gut issues... could he have had a clot in his stomach or somewhere in his gut? He has not had ANY of the issues the previous doctors couldn't get under control since being in the hospital and being on blood thinners. I hope to have answers there in the new year.

Chase is frustrated to not be able to communicate. Overall, he is in good spirits.

Chase's boys are struggling to watch their dad; they lost their mom 4 years ago (one month after our wedding). She had her struggles; we don't need to go into it here.

Please pray for our family. For our strength. For our endurance. For all of our health. And most of all, for Chase's full recovery.

If you can donate, we will forever be grateful, but if you can't, please pray for us.

God bless.