On November 22, just days before the height of the holiday season, a sudden medical emergency struck the Valeriano household that would change the ways of not only Chris’ life, but the lives of the family as a whole. It was early that Friday morning, shortly after Theresa had left the house for work at her new job, that Chis had suffered from what we now know was a stroke. Theresa was getting report to start her shift to take care of her assigned patients, when she got a call from her son Raymond.

While Raymond was helping his son Camren, who both live at home with Chris & Theresa get ready for school, Raymond heard the cries of help from Cam who had found Chris on the floor. Quickly, Raymond called 911 and Theresa, who had barely started her day caring for patients. She rushed back home to meet the ambulance, to be by her husband’s side who was now her priority patient.

Chris was rushed to Jersey Shore Hospital where it was confirmed that he had suffered a stroke. Emergently, Chris underwent surgery which would save, yet ultimately change his life. After undergoing a successful procedure, Chris was transferred to the ICU where he spent two days.

Chis’ stroke was the tip of the iceberg as far as his current health state was concerned. Leading up to his stroke, Chris was already facing cardiac related medical complications. Recently Chris has been seeing his cardiologist regularly to prepare him for procedures; a Cardiac Cath and eventually a defibrillator and Barowstim placement. These procedures were being done with hopes that it would make an improvement on his already weakening cardiac health.

In preparation for these upcoming procedures, which were anticipated to be completed before the end of the year, Chris had been taken off some of his maintenance medications. This may have been a contributing factor to the stroke he suffered.

Stable, but with a long road ahead of him, Chris was transferred to a step-down unit where he stays for the rest of the week with the next step being an Acute Rehabilitation Center. Chris was scheduled to be transferred to JRI Rehabilitation Center in Brick, NJ on Thanksgiving Day. With the holiday, and some other setbacks and confusion with transportation, Theresa ultimately ended up transporting Chris to the rehab center on her own the day after.

Settled at JRI, Chris is now on a daily schedule getting Physical, Occupational, and Speech therapy with hopes to restore his ability to do daily activities as independently as possible. While the therapy staff works hard with Chris, it still requires a lot of encouragement for him to cooperate and retain the skills. Theresa, still out of work on unpaid leave, while being the household’s main source of income, stays by Chris’ side every day at rehab.

Chris works hard every day so that he can get back home to doing things his once normal life consisted of. While Theresa works full-time to support the family, Chris enjoys his role as Mr. Mom. After Chris retired, and Theresa went back to work Chirs took on the everyday responsibilities of keeping up with the household. This would include but not be limited to yard work, cleaning, cooking, pool boy in the summers, and homework with the kids.

With a family of twelve children, and 13 grandchildren Chris has a lot of people cheering on his recovery, but also depending on it. Over the course of their 25-year relationship, Chris and Theresa fostered over 75 children, adopting and becoming legal guardians of seven of them. Even with such a large family tree, Chris maintains close relationships with all his children and especially his grandchildren. Chris has adult children; his daughters Michele and her family and Dawn with her children, as well as his sons Chris and his family, and Anthony and Heather, and his stepdaughter Ashlee with her family. He also has his daughters Katie, Mahogany, and Gianna who all live on their own as well.

As for the rest of the clan, Cassie, Tyreese, Orlando, and Raymond with his son Camren all still live home with Chris and Theresa. Cassie is sweet sixteen and in the middle of her junior year of high school. The youngest of the crew, Cassie has been part of the Valeriano family since infancy being fostered twice, before Chris and Theresa became her legal guardians. Her light and sweetheart has really shone through since Chris’ stroke as she has stepped up helping around the house doing the things that would normally fall on Chris. Tyreese, who is pursuing a career in Corrections out of state, has put a hold on things to be present for the family currently.

November 7th would be the last family outing they would have for a while. They went to Hibachi to celebrate Orlando as they prepared to send him off to Texas to begin Space Force training, a division of the US Air Force. Orlando left home for training on November 11th, just a few short days prior to Chris’ stroke. Orlando and Chris have such a special bond. Chris not only supported Orlando’s football career, but also got involved coaching, never missing a game. With Orlando away, communication is limited to letters and a very rare and brief phone call. Being away and needing to stay focused on graduation at the end of December, Orlando has no idea about his dad’s current health state.

As we know Raymond and Camren were home with Chris when his stroke occurred. Raymond, on top of working, has been stepping up to the plate to really help Theresa all while still managing to take care of Cam. Camren and Chris are both lost without each other as they have such an incredibly close bond.

Theresa continues to go to JRI daily to keep an eye on Chris while at the same time, boost his morale and restore his confidence. Theresa’s nursing knowledge, natural caretaker instinct, and genuine love for her husband has been unwavering. Theresa knew when she met Chris he was “THE ONE”. In 25 years of marriage, they still have the relationship of newlyweds. While they are mostly homebodies, they don’t spare themselves the opportunity for weekend and anniversary get-aways to the shore and other random date nights.

While one of Theresa and Chris’ greatest strengths in their relationship has always been collaboration and teamwork, Chris will be taking the bench for a bit. When Chris is released to return home, there will be many changes to be made to accommodate Chris’ new living arrangements.

While Chris makes progress daily, in an attempt to regain all his normal living functions, that goal has not yet been reached, and a new normal is still undetermined. Once Chris is released from JRI, which is still unknown at this time as he still has a lengthy inpatient recovery to deal with, he will eventually return home.

Chris will need to have all of his living accommodations moved to the first floor. At this time, it hasn’t been clarified what and if any home care services Chris will be entitled to. Along with his daily living activities, Chris will not be driving for an unforeseeable future. Theresa will have to continue to stay home after exhausting her paid time off, and also ineligible for paid leave. Chris will require many follow-up appointments with Cardiologists, Neurologists, Neuro Surgeons, and out patient therapies in which Theresa will be responsible for transporting him to and from.

At this time, Chris and the Valeriano family need your positive thoughts, prayers, and well wishes for a speedy and hopeful recovery. At this time, they could also use help to keep the household financially stable. While FMLA gives Theresa job security, it is not giving her financial security. New in her role, she does not qualify for paid leave. With no sight of Chris’ recovery in the near future, the worries of maintaining the household financially also become a great concern. While most prepare for a rainy day, no one anticipates a storm.

In this time of need, any contributions would not only be appreciated, but also essential to keep the family afloat while they navigate what their new future is going to look like. Although so close to the holiday season, which is typically already a financially stressful time of year for all, any contribution even the smallest, will help the Valeriano’s get through this difficult time they are facing. Chris, Theresa, and the entire family would already like to thank everyone who has reached out with their kind words and support. And while it is difficult for them to need and accept financial help, they are grateful for any contributions that may come their way.