By Joe Johnson
Over a month after he was critically injured in a brutal assault, an employee of an Athens homeless
facility continues to undergo intensive rehabilitation and therapy.
Christopher Sullens was a supervisor at the Advantage Behavioral Health Systems Day Center on North Avenue when he was attacked by a machete-wielding homeless man.
The suspect was upset for having been kicked out of the facility for bringing alcohol there, and he attacked with the machete when Sullens was walking to his car after work.
The 53-year-old victim was flown by helicopter in critical condition to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where he underwent several major surgeries to save his life. Doctors were unable to preserve one of his badly damaged eyes, and it was removed.
For the past couple of weeks Chris has been at the Shepherd Center, a premier rehabilitation facility in Atlanta that specializes in helping people with traumatic brain injuries.
Among other things, Chris has had to learn to walk again.
His sister, Teresa Sullens-Baker provides this latest progress report:
Chris is doing amazing with basically everything despite having only one eye, and not being able to use it very long before it dries out and gets painful. I've ordered him some special glasses that he should have by tomorrow and I hope they work to keep his eye from drying out. Still no new information on his eyelid as far as surgery to open it. His team of doctors are hopeful for his body doing the majority of the work and him being able to open it on his own eventually.
He will be discharged as an inpatient on August 2nd but will still be living in an apartment at Shepherd for some time and doing outpatient close by.
He misses his dogs. He misses his car. He misses having independence. He loves having visitors.
Please come see him if you haven't or even if you have! It brightens his day so much to have friends and family around.
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