Oct 7, 2009 10:47 pm US/Central
Wife By His Side, Wounded Deputy Defies Odds
(WCCO)
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Minnesota sheriff's deputy Chris Dewey was shot in February 2009 while investigating a suspected drunk driver. He is currently recovering in a Colorado hospital.
Emily Dewey
In February, Minnesota Sheriff's Deputy Chris Dewey from Mahnomen County near Fargo was shot in the head and left to die in a driveway. Now, he's defying the odds stacked against him and winning the struggle to get stronger.
"He's got a lot of fight in him. He's going to prove the doctors wrong," said Dewey's wife, Emily.
He's now recovering at a hospital in Denver, Colo., with his wife right by his side.
Chris was repeatedly shot one morning last winter while answering a call for help. He checked out a report of gunfire in a neighborhood, but instead, he was the one who got shot. Two bullets hit his stomach and another hit his head. It was February 18th.
"That was obviously the worst day of my life," said Emily, recalling that day.
She remembers that dreaded knock at her door shortly after Chris was shot. The Sheriff and his wife, along with another Deputy's wife delivered the unnerving news.
"I knew he had been shot and could hear the radio traffic over the scanner to that effect," recalled Emily. "So immediately I called my mom, and I'm screaming and crying."
Emily went to the hospital in Fargo, where doctors did surgery on Chris. A few weeks later, it was time to go, but not to go home.
"It was very stressful, even trying to make the decision to go to Denver for rehab was huge," she recalled.
She talks now about Chris' struggles, his successes so far, and his future. She believes her husband's future will be bright.
She makes it to the hospital around 8 o'clock every morning to be by Chris' side while he goes through physical and speech therapy.
"One step at a time, one day at a time, he's improving and I'm there to encourage him the whole way," she remarked.
Chris and Emily are far from family and friends back home while they stay at Colorado's Craig Hospital. Specialists there treat people who have spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injury.
"He has been communicating a little bit more and more," Emily said. "He has been eating slowly, a little bit more and more, which has been encouraging."
Soon Chris will start using weights on his legs to rebuild muscle he lost while in the Intensive Care Unit. It's those small steps that move Chris toward reaching long-term goals.
"He's very much had a rollercoaster of recovery," Emily said.
It's something Emily knew might happen when she married a Sheriff's Deputy. She doesn't plan to step off the nightmare journey anytime soon.
Chris was only supposed to stay two months at Craig Hospital, but he had a hemorrhage a month after he got there. He developed meningitis and suffered seizures, among other complications. He's now scheduled to go home in January.
Though pictures highlight his physical wounds, Emily knows one thing has not changed.
"He's there, the old Chris is there," she said.
He's still the guy she met in high school chemistry class, that football star who made her laugh, that guy she loved then and will tomorrow as she continues the rollercoaster ride right by his side.
"When I said 'for better or for worse,' I meant it, and this is the part of that 'for worse,' but we're going to get through this," Emily said.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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