Fire chief back to work Monday

Three months after injuring his knee on a fire scene and then experiencing life-threatening complications following surgery, Poplar Bluff Fire Chief Ralph Stucker returned to light duty Monday.

Stucker had injured his knee Jan. 13 while attempting to retrieve equipment from the bed of his pickup on a fire scene and had surgery Jan. 30 at a St. Louis hospital to reattach the meniscus back to the bone.

On Feb. 13, Stucker was hospitalized after he experienced difficulty breathing and collapsed at his home.

He was taken to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center, where it was discovered he was suffering from a pulmonary embolism that was straddling both lobes of his lungs, obstructing his airways.

Stucker subsequently was transferred to Saint Francis Medical Center at Cape Girardeau, where he underwent surgery Feb. 14 to remove the clot.

“I’ve had several doctors look at things and look at me and say, ‘You’re lucky to be alive,’” Stucker said.

The type of blood clot Stucker had, he said, is something the doctors see once a year or every few years. It’s not something that happens very often, he said.

As his recovery continues, “it’s good to be out and feel like you’re doing something” again, Stucker said. “My knee still hurts; my chest is still sore, but the doctor said the knee is coming along fine.”

Stucker said his thoracic surgeon told him he would consider releasing him to “do whatever I want to do” in mid-May or mid-June.

“He said it just takes time for that bone (sternum) to heal,” Stucker said.

When Stucker recently saw one of his doctors, he had a CAT scan.

“He pointed and said, ‘There’s your clot,’” Stucker said. “He kind of laid it out how everything was.”

Given its size, “he said not too many people survive that,” Stucker said. “I’m very lucky and very blessed.”

Stucker said he also is appreciative of the community’s support.

“I’ll be glad when everything gets back to normal, and I can see people, thank them, shake hands or hug their necks,” said Stucker.

The experience, he said, was overwhelming to go through.

“My wife and family, they took really good care of me and helped me through everything,” Stucker said. “They made sure that I was taken care of, so I’m a very fortunate person.”

In returning to the fire department, Stucker said, he will be doing administrative work in the office.

“Basically, I’ll just be down here, go to meetings and stuff like that,” Stucker said.

Mike Moffitt, who has been serving as interim chief during Stucker’s recovery, will remain in his position for now, so he can respond to any emergency calls, Stucker said.

Stucker said he and Moffitt went over various things on Monday, including speaking with a sales representative for a turnout gear manufacturer to see when the department’s new gear may arrive.

Stucker said this is the final year in a three-year cycle to replace the department’s turnout gear.

The manufacturer, Stucker said, initially was shut down by COVID-19 as a non-essential business. “They had to apply for a waiver,” which took a few weeks before production could resume, he said.

The pandemic halting production, he said, was not something he had thought about and admits he is having to get acclimated to what is happening with COVID-19.

Stucker said he has watched what has happened worldwide with the pandemic and how it was affecting “our community” while he was “laid up at home. I feel like I’m not doing anything, not being productive at all with everything that is going on.”

Being out, he said, also was putting an extra burden on everyone in the department.

“Hopefully, I’ll get back in the swing of things, get released, healed up and get back to a normal routine,” he said.