After Two Strokes, Air Force Veteran Faces Growing Medical Bills

ENGLEWOOD, FL — Chris Sell has always been healthy and active, working long hours of physical labor for the construction company he owns with his wife, Sasha Sell, and playing softball in several Sarasota County leagues. The husband and wife are out on the field together most nights of the week, she said.

The 39-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran is also one of “the most caring” people she’s ever met, she said, and the kind of guy who lights up any room he’s in.

“He would do kind things to help his friends out no matter what, even if there wasn’t a thank-you attached to it. Every Christmas, we would adopt the biggest family of kids to get gifts for and skip gifts for each other, because we would rather go without than know some kids with parents barely making it may not have a Christmas,” Sasha said. “He’s the person you could go to with anything. His daughter, nieces and nephews, and even our friends’ kids flock to him in a room full of adults because he could literally joke about anything and make absolutely anyone laugh.”

Now, the Englewood couple, perpetual givers, find themselves on the receiving end of assistance this year after Chris unexpectedly suffered two strokes in October. He remains hospitalized at Post Acute Medical Specialty Hospital in Sarasota and faces “a long road” of physical therapy and recovery, his wife said. They’re also looking at a mountain of medical bills, as Veterans Affairs won’t cover all of his treatment, she added.

The community rallies around Chris during his recovery

“We never imagined that we would need to ask for help, and that has probably been one of the hardest things for me to accept and have to do,” Sasha said. “We have always been the givers. Having to admit you need help in return is a lot to swallow.”

Several softball leagues that the couple play with have raised funds for them in recent weeks. There’s an upcoming women’s draft softball tournament on Jan. 9 at Foxworthy Campus-By-Pass Park in Venice that’s currently registering players. The $37 entry fee per player benefits the couple. Those interested in signing up can do so online here

Friends, family and supporters are also raising funds for Chris and Sasha on GoFundMe. All money donated through the fundraising campaign will help pay for Chris’ treatment at Brooks Rehabilitation in Jacksonville, which specializes in neuro injuries. He’ll hopefully be transported to the rehab facility by the end of December, his wife said.

A night they'll never forget

Sasha is a lifelong Sarasota County resident who grew up in Venice. Chris, born in Boston, spent much of his youth moving back and forth between the Venice area and New Hampshire.

He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after high school. Following basic training in Texas, he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. After 9/11, he was shipped to Saudi Arabia. A decorated veteran, he received the National Defense Service Medal for his service.

Chris returned to Venice, where his father lived, after his time in the Air Force. He met his first wife, and they had a daughter, now 14. He met Sasha through mutual friends nearly 10 years ago.

She said his health issues came as a complete surprise to everyone.

“He had absolutely no symptoms leading up to it,” she said. “Nothing that would have told us a stroke would happen.”

Sasha and a friend had just gotten to Virginia for a girls’ weekend when Chris called her the morning of Oct. 10. He needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night but couldn’t move.

“Somehow he still dragged himself into the bathroom,” she said.

He spent the night on the bathroom floor, calling his wife at 8 a.m. He told Sasha his symptoms, and she called a mutual friend to bring him to Englewood Community Hospital. The doctors there confirmed Chris had a stroke.

Meanwhile, his wife and her friend immediately started the 13-hour drive back from Virginia. They made it back to the Sarasota area before midnight.

By 2 a.m. the next day, he was transferred to Fawcett Memorial Hospital. Around 6 a.m. that day, he had a second stroke and underwent emergency surgery to remove a portion of his skull to release the pressure, Sasha said.

The first stroke, in the right cerebral hemisphere, was the size of a fist. The second stroke was smaller — the size of a strawberry — and found in his brain’s left hemisphere.

The only reason doctors even attempted the emergency surgery was because of his age, she added. If Chris was even just a few years older, the odds of his not surviving it would have been too great.

After two days in an induced coma, he didn’t wake up right away when the induction was ended. Doctors told her that he might not ever wake up.

But he’s been defying the doctors’ expectations from the beginning, Sasha said. “The day after they told me he might not wake up, he opened his eyes. They told me that more than likely he’d be paralyzed from the neck down. The next day he wiggled his toes.”

Now, he can move both legs. He can move his left arm a bit — “It’s OK,” she said. “His left arm is not great, but OK.” — and he can only open and close his right hand but can’t move that arm. He can also turn his head and acknowledge when people are talking to him.

Chris can’t talk yet, though, she added. “But mentally, I feel like he’s completely there. He knows who everybody is. He understands questions, follows commands.”

Doctors said that he has an autoimmune disorder, possibly lupus, which explains the strokes, she said, especially since he didn’t exhibit any other health issues.

What's next for Chris?

Now, the focus is on his recovery. Because he doesn’t have a service-related disability, though, the VA will only pay for so much, Sasha said. If he’s unable to complete a minimum three hours of physical therapy each day — which he can’t in his current condition — then it won’t pay for his stay at a rehab center, she said. Those unable to do the minimum amount of physical therapy work would typically move to a skilled nursing facility or be assigned an in-home nurse. Because that is considered long-term care, though, the VA also won’t pay for that, she added.

She did her own research and found Brooks Rehabilitation in Jacksonville. When he’s able to leave the hospital, he’ll move there for his physical therapy. The couple will have to pay for this treatment out of pocket. But it was the best neuro physical therapy facility she could find, she said.

She’s uncertain how long Chris will need to stay in the rehab. The staff at Brooks reevaluates each case every two weeks. At the moment, they only have enough money for him to be there for about a month.

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“Figuring out our finances, I can drain everything and have him there for four weeks,” Sasha said. “Anything after that, I don’t know what I would do.”

All funds raised through softball events and GoFundMe will be used to help pay for his stay at Brooks Rehabilitation.

He was supposed to move to Brooks on Friday, but it was delayed because he came down with an infection, which was treated with antibiotics, she said. He later tested positive for a blood infection. They need to either determine it was a false positive or kill the second infection before moving him to the rehab facility.

She’s hopeful that the move to Jacksonville will lead to continued to progress for Chris. There’s so much uncertainty, though, that she remains realistic.

“As a stroke victim, progress could quit today and this could be how he lives the rest of his life, or progress could quit 10 miles down the road,” Sasha said. “I’m still in shock that this happened. But we need to keep trying everything we can.”