By JoAnn Biren
Murray County News Staffwriter
Small communities have always been known for their ability to come together to support someone who needs help. And, how many times have you seen on social media the question, ‘Have you thanked a teacher today’? Put them together and what you have is a fundraiser, planned by a young man who was taught and coached by Chris Davis.
Davis suffered a stroke in late June. He is a long time teacher at the Murray County Central school district who also coached at the school for many years. His daughter Hannah, the oldest of Chris and his wife Wendy’s three children wrote on Caring Bridge what had happened to her Dad. On Wednesday, June 27th, Chris had an intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke (brain bleed) and was flown by helicopter to Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls from MCMC in Slayton. Though he is currently stable medically, there is still hemorrhaging occurring in his brain and he has been diagnosed with global aphasia, which means he is unable to comprehend and produce speech, nor is he able to read/write. His neurologist has determined that he will need to be closely monitored in the intensive care unit at Sanford for a week or so as his stroke occurred in a part of his brain that could impact his brain stem (which controls breathing, heart rate, swallowing, consciousness, etc.) if his brain swells significantly. Long term, he will need to be placed in outpatient or inpatient care, depending on how much progress he is able to make while still in the hospital with speech therapy, occupation therapy, and physical therapy. Either way, he will need extensive therapy services to hopefully regain abilities he has lost in the coming months. The road ahead will certainly be a long one marked with many challenges.
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