Chris retired as a 1SG, combat engineer, that spent 21 years in the Army. He grew up in the middle of cornfield country in Lincoln, Illinois. He has an older brother (also a soldier, he is a COL in the Army currently serving in Germany) and a younger half-brother. He spent time in both Illinois with his Mom and stepdad and Ohio with his biological Dad.
He lost his right leg below the knee, broke several vertebra in his neck, and shattered his upper right arm in a motorcycle accident in 2005. He remained on active duty service for more than 10 years and retired at the end of 2016. In 2010 Chris reinjured his residual limb avoiding an RPG attack in Afghanistan. After several years of continued issues with his limb not healing, he ultimately had a revision to cut off another 4 inches of his limb at Walter Reed in 2015. This is where he met Kelly.
Kelly is a Physical Therapist and was working in the amputee clinic at Walter Reed. Kelly comes from a military family, her Dad is a retired COL and helicopter pilot with 28+ years of service as well. Kelly grew up as an Army brat all around the world, moving often. She has 2 younger sisters. Her family lives about an hour from Walter Reed and never wanted any service member to be alone on a holiday. Many stragglers have spent holidays at their home over the years. Chris joined for 4th of July and spent the whole day talking to Kelly’s Dad- realizing her Dad provided air support to Chris and his unit on the ground while both were deployed to Bosnia. Through lots of mutual friends, the rest is history.
Chris and Kelly moved to Maine in the summer of 2017 to work for the Travis Mills Foundation. Kelly is now the Chief Operating Officer for TMF, as well as a contractor at the local VA to help with amputee care, and adjunct professor at 3 universities to help teach amputee rehab. Chris also works for the foundation as the Chief Facilities and Maintenance Officer. Together, with a wonderful team, they run the day to day operations of the Foundation.
After years of an infertility journey, they now have a 22 month old daughter that is the greatest thing to ever happen to either of them. Her name is Emma and she is every bit of the fiercely stubborn and independent bits of her parents in the form of a tiny human. They have 2 dogs and are enjoying living on several acres out of the hussle and bussle of the DC area. They enjoy being outside as much as possible, hiking, swimming, and exploring what still feels like their new state.
He joined the Army in 2004 and was stationed at Ft. Stewart along with his stepdad. They deployed together twice in the same battalion. Tim was on his second deployment in Iraq as an artilleryman when he was left a double amputee after an IED explosion. On June 19, 2007, shortly after taking over as the driver of a Humvee, his vehicle rolled over a pressure plate IED that exploded through the floorboard, immediately amputating his right leg below the knee and his left leg above the knee. The reaction by the medic and medevac team saved his life. He was stabilized and transported to a local hospital before later being airlifted to Landstuhl, Germany and finally to Walter Reed Army Medical Center where he rehabbed for nearly two and a half years.
