2005 was tough year for the Kitsos family.  Chris lost his father to lung cancer.  The family was still dealing with their grief when an unwelcome guest named Katrina flooded their home and scattered the family. Chris and wife Joyce were in the process of putting their home and family back together when their lives went from scattered to shattered.

Chris calls it “Katrina tired.”  He had gone to their home in St. Rose the evening of October 20, after working many 12- to 16-hour days. Exhausted, hungry, eager for the chance to relax for just a little while, he had started the grill, put on the fryer for some french fries, then sat down in his favorite chair.  Joyce’s employer, Hibernia, had transferred her to Baton Rouge after the hurricane, so Chris was spending the evening alone.

Chris doesn’t have a clear memory of what happened next.  Obviously he had dozed off, because something – he still doesn’t know what – woke him up.  “All I can remember is running into the kitchen and running right into the fire,” he says.  “The firemen said the tile floor was so hot, it took the skin right off my feet.  They could see the skin of my feet on the floor like footprints.”

Not thinking clearly, Chris had gone to the kitchen sink, filled a pot with water and threw it onto the grease fire, causing it to flash.  His shoulders, arms and back were severely burned.  “It was in God’s hands how I got out of there. I don’t know how I got out of there,” Chris says, still in awe of the divine provenance that delivered him from the flames.

He remembers standing in the front yard and a passing policeman stopping and saying, “Sir, your arms.”  Firefighters, including his former brother-in-law, arrived and began questioning him about any others who might be inside.  “You have to save the dogs,” was his reply.  Chris was especially concerned about a 16-year-old dog that was his handicapped daughter’s favorite.  Sadly, she did not survive, but her two puppies did.

Chris remembers his former brother-in-law calling Joyce and telling her to hurry to the hospital.  He doesn’t remember much after that.  “The next thing I remember was waking up and seeing Joyce in front of me, asking me if I knew where I was. I knew I was in the hospital,” states Chris. “But the crazy thing was when Joyce asked if I knew how long I had been there.  I thought it had been a couple of days.  It had been two months.”

From the beginning, friends and family stepped up to help.  Blood drives were organized by co-workers of both Chris’ and Joyce’s.  Everyone knew Chris was on a journey like none he had ever experienced in his world travels.  Everyone wanted to help.

Everything Chris relates at this point is from the perspective of someone who has been briefed after a long absence. He had suffered second and third degree burns over 30% of his body. He coded twice on the way to the hospital.  His wife was told he would likely die.  Then it really got bad.  Chris developed pneumonia, staph infection, kidney failure, and a blood clot in one leg.  He was put on dialysis for a time, and was told that if his kidneys didn’t begin functioning by a certain date, it was likely he would be on dialysis for the rest of his life.  On that date, as if on cue, his kidneys resumed function.  Hospital personnel, including the physicians, began calling him the “miracle guy.”

Chris began to get better, but his physicians told him to expect a six-month hospital stay.  Chris had his own ideas about that, setting a goal of being home by Christmas.  He began working out four hours a day, three times a week in physical therapy.  Son Christopher, a Marine, transferred from Hawaii to Baton Rouge to be near Dad to take him to his physical therapy sessions. Chris went home December 23.

Chris is part owner of NSA Agencies, a shipping business representing ship owners all over the world.  He and Joyce enjoy a close-knit family and a world-wide network of friends.  He credits his family and friends with his recovery.  “I have so many friends around the world, which is what has given me the drive to get out of the hospital after only two months instead of six,” he says emphatically. “Nobody expected me to make it. I think my Dad was looking down, telling me I had to get home to take care of my family. I needed to make it to take care of my family.”

• Corporate Office
• Service Area
• Alexandria
• Baton Rouge
• Beaumont
• Lake Charles
• Monroe/Ruston
• Shreveport/Bossier