New Milford Man’s Family Fighting for His Recovery

70-year-old Artie Schuff has had four strokes and three open-heart surgeries, and that's just for starters.

CT Insider tells us the true story of Artie, from New Milford, who is still and always has been a fighter, a man who won't quit. His fan club and support team are the women in his life, including his wife Pat, his daughter, Allison, and his granddaughters Ava and Sabrina.

After working in Manhattan for 40 years, Artie decided to call it a career and retired 11 1/2 months ago. On September 13, 2020, Artie's life drastically changed after his wife drove him to the New Milford Hospital emergency room.

Get our free mobile app

After doctors put him through a series of tests, they discovered three very serious aortic aneurysms. So serious, in fact, that he needed to be airlifted to Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Since that day, his medical issues were exacerbated by a spinal stroke along with strokes on the left and right sides of his brain, a hernia, and three open-heart surgeries. Since September 13, his girl-powered family has kept Artie sane, and his spirit's up even without being able to be with him while he's been in rehab.

For the last 7 months, Artie has been in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation centers, working as hard as possible to get back on his feet. After a rehab facility in Bethel told Pat there was nothing else they could do for him, his family moved him to Glen Hill Rehabilitation Center in Danbury, where Artie is beginning to experience some mobility.

The medical bills have been so overwhelming, that Artie's girls started a GoFundMe page which, so far, has raised $9,000. Artie and Pat met when they were 13-years-old in the schoolyard of PS 88 in Queens. Pat told CT Insider,

Every night I look at his side of the be and I'm like, 'you better get home. This is not working, I miss him like crazy.'