By Jennie McKeon
Northwest Florida Daily News
NAVARRE BEACH, Fla. — Every day Destin Jines worried about her firefighter husband, Chris, as he headed to work.
“I always tell him to call me when he’s done with a call,” she said. “I’m always worried of him falling from a building or something.”
Earlier in November the Navarre Beach firefighter was responding to a cardiac arrest call and performed CPR on the patient, who eventually passed away. Sometime after the call, he started to have terrible headaches. Destin, who is a full-time nursing student, brought him to the emergency room one night when he started having a fever.
“I knew something wasn’t right,” she said.
Chris eventually was admitted to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, where doctors diagnosed him with a severe case of encephalitis, a viral brain infection. On Sunday he was released from the hospital, although home health nurses will visit twice a week. Destin said doctors were surprised by Chris’s recovery, but there’s still a long road ahead.
“His long-term memory has not been affected and he’s just started to walk a little on his own,” she added. “He doesn’t recall anything that’s happened and he repeats himself a lot. It’s going to take time.”
Doctors warned Destin that Chris may not recognize his wife as he came out of sedation, but he did. It was an “immediate relief,” she said.
Since he was admitted, the Navarre community has rallied behind the Jines family. Capt. Danny Fureigh, a fellow firefighter and Chris’ friend for more than 30 years, started a GoFundMe page for the family that has raised more than $4,700. This weekend he will host a benefit for Chris with the help of Juana’s Pagodas with music, food and a silent auction.
Chris, who has an 8-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, is “the best father I know of,” Fureigh said.
“Some people are just likable, and that’s Chris,” he added. “If the the tables were turned, he would do the same. I know the financial burden ... especially this time of year.”
Chris has been a Navarre Beach firefighter for almost a year, and before that worked for the Pace Fire District. He also works part-time at Escambia County Fire Rescue. While the cause of the infection is not entirely known, it is assumed Chris contracted it from the patient he attempted to save. Fureigh said in his 25 years as a firefighter he’s never been exposed to that kind of risk. It’s a reminder of what firefighters do every day, he said.
Destin said the support from the community has given her something to be thankful for this holiday season.
“What they say about firefighters having a brotherhood is true,” she said. “I am thankful that my prayers were answered; this could’ve gone so differently. And it is humbling to know that so many people care about us.”
Copyright 2016 the Northwest Florida Daily News