Grateful for support

Posted by on Friday, May 27, 2011 in June 2011.

Chris Carey, M.D., a General Surgery resident, is ready to make a fresh start in Oklahoma City.

Carey’s time in Nashville has been hard. In August 2009 his wife of 13 years, Niki, died from liver cancer. In May 2010 the Nashville flood wiped out his Bellevue home. Four months later, as he was moving back into his home, his father died from a heart attack.

Despite the overwhelming loss Carey experienced, he knows the things lost in the flood are replaceable. Lives are not.

“Rebuilding for us took a little longer,” said Carey. “We really had to figure out what the best route was for us. Our choices were to file bankruptcy, foreclose or go into debt rebuilding.

“We had to decide how much of a gamble we were willing to take, so coming to a decision took a while.”

Carey, along with his new wife, Deanna Chapman, decided to rebuild. Plans call for the couple to rent the totally refurbished home and sell it in a couple of years.

Carey said he is grateful for the outpouring of support from Vanderbilt during his time here.

Now Carey and his family, including daughter Kilyn, son Conner and mom are heading to the Midwest.

“I can tell you when we were looking for our home, we made sure it didn’t have any association with water,” said Carey. “It’s not in the name of the subdivision, the name of the street or even near a water source,” he said laughing.

—Jessica Pasley