Longtime Mathews resident Dave Arthur, known as “The Floor Guy” at Stewart’s Tile and Carpet, is recovering from a major cardiac event that has left him paralyzed from the waist down. With an uncertain future and major medical expenses, he is hoping to raise funds to see him through the crisis so he can start a new life.

Arthur was having a normal day preparing a kitchen in West Point for vinyl flooring on Nov. 10 when his chest tightened up and breathing became difficult. He tried lying down on the porch, sitting on a bench, then lying down again, but finally told his helper, Shawn Jaeger, that he needed to go home.

Jaeger pressed him to go to the hospital, but Arthur insisted he just needed time to recover, so they drove back to the store in Mathews. Meanwhile, they called the store and told manager Faye Respress what was happening.

Respress said she called for an ambulance, and when the van arrived at the shop, Arthur was clearly in distress. He was rocking back and forth and holding his chest.

“His color was horrible,” she said. “He could’ve died right in front of our eyes.”

The rescue squad “was amazing,” she said, and quickly transported Arthur to the hospital.

After evaluating Arthur, the staff at Riverside Walter Reed told his sisters, Cindy Bocrie of Hartfield, and Ruth Ronquest of Mathews, that the situation was dire. The internal walls of Arthur’s aorta (the body’s largest artery, attached directly to the heart) were coming apart layer by layer from top to bottom, with blood that was supposed to be pumped to his body pooling in the walls of his aorta. Their brother needed to be at a major medical center, but he might not live through the helicopter flight from Gloucester to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

“I knew any second he could die,” said Bocrie, a registered nurse for the past 30 years.

“The ER doctor told us if we had anything to say to him, we’d better say it now,” said Bocrie’s husband, Steve.

When the helicopter landed in Norfolk, the Bocries and Ronquest were en route, and the flight nurse texted Bocrie to let her know Arthur had made it and the surgeon was already there. Surgery began sometime between 9 and 10 p.m., said Bocrie, and it lasted until around 4 a.m. Doctors cut Arthur’s chest open, breaking his ribs, and put in stints and artificial tubing, along with a device called an elephant trunk that will allow for future repairs without opening up the chest. Additional incisions provided more access to parts of the surgical site.

It all worked, and the doctors saved Arthur’s life. The only problem was that the nerves in his spine suffered from a lack of oxygen because the blood wasn’t able to get there for an extended amount of time, causing what doctors believe is permanent damage. As a result, Arthur is paralyzed. He said he can sometimes feel a pinprick or pressure from somebody squeezing his foot, but he can’t move his legs and has no control over bodily functions.

“That’s super embarrassing,” he said. “I’ve just gotta wait and see if some of it comes back. I’ve seen God do a lot of miracles.”

Arthur said he’s not used to people “waiting on me hand and foot,” and although he can only sit up for an hour or two before he’s so exhausted he has to lie back down, he’s trying to do as much as he can for himself. Bocrie reminded him that he’s still on “sternal precautions” until mid-January because of his healing chest and ribs, but he said he’s always been active and finds it difficult. In the days just before the incident occurred, in addition to his job installing flooring and the physical labor that entails, he had been working around the Gwynn’s Island house he was renting—shoveling dirt and planting outside, building two racks for his kayaks, and installing a brand-new marble floor.

“I can’t live there now,” he said wistfully. He moved in with the Bocries after he was released from rehab on Dec. 12, and Steve Bocrie has made a number of accommodations for him, including building a ramp, widening the bathroom door, and replacing the bathroom sink with one a wheelchair can roll under.

Until earlier this year, Arthur had never had a health insurance plan or even a primary care doctor. But in the spring, he developed a mouth infection that spread throughout the left side of his face and into his brain, causing a disfiguring amount of swelling and preventing his jaw from opening. He was hospitalized for treatment, and became despairing.

“I gave it up to God and asked him to take me, but he stepped in and helped instead,” said Arthur. “It finally started working.”

The one good thing that came of it was that Arthur applied for Medicaid, and at least has that to cover most of the cost of his current medical bills. But he’s now unemployed while still owing “several hundreds of thousands of dollars” on his prior hospital stay, and there are new medications, new devices such as an electric-assisted wheelchair, and new supplies that all require co-pays. He’s also going to need a van that can accommodate a wheelchair and be driven by hand.

Even if he can someday regain feeling in his legs, Arthur said he’s limited in his ability to lift, bend or engage in heavy exertion, so he’s going to need to train for some kind of job that will require a computer, which he doesn’t have. He said he’s in the process of filling out paperwork for disability income.

Bocrie, who had her own cardiac emergency a year ago that took six months to recover from, is helping her brother navigate the health care system and said the two spend “all day every day” on the phone, trying to get Medicaid taken care of. With no primary care physician and no home health agency, she said, “if something went wrong, the only thing we could do is call 911.”

Respress is handling any donations that people might want to make to help Arthur out. She said he’s been one of the chief installers at Stewart’s Tile and Carpet for the past 25 years, and he’s beloved by employees and customers alike.

“His work was always so meticulous,” she said. “He was absolutely reliable. He wanted everything right when he left. He was always on the job or here when he was needed, and a lot of the time he’d go above and beyond. Everybody loves Dave.”

To donate a check, make it out to Dave Arthur and drop it by Stewart’s Tile and Carpet, 10571 Buckley Hall Road, Mathews. Cash donations will be accepted, as well.

At left, Arthur is shown in the hospital after surgery, with his sister Cindy Bocrie by his side. At right, Arthur, kneeling, helps build a set for a Court House Players show.