Restaurant owner healing after fall

A restaurant owner is grateful for his family, staff, God, and community after a recent fall.

Sunil Tch, owner of Eat Street in Barnwell and manager of the Winton Inn, suffered a serious fall on Dec. 12 at his home, landing on his face. He was airlifted to an Augusta, Ga. hospital where he spent the next 10 days. On Dec. 21, just in time for Christmas, Sunil was released to go home.

“Barnwell stepped up to protect my family, my business, and everything. I feel the love and God’s grace,” said Sunil during a recent interview at his restaurant.

Watching the love of her life confined to a hospital bed brought emotional ups and downs that was “faster and scarier than a rollercoaster,” said Sunil’s wife, Supreethi Tadamatla. However, those 10 days in the hospital provided the family with a different perspective of life.

“Throughout the entire time we had a whole army of prayer warriors and well-wishers. Almighty God protected Sunil from death and major accident. Doctors are telling me that everything was minor brain injuries and none of them needed surgeries,” said Supreethi in a Facebook post the day he was released.

HOME SWEET HOME

As immigrants from India, Sunil and Supreethi moved to Barnwell nine years ago. They had always lived in bigger cities, including Columbia, Beaufort, and their hometown in India.

“When I came to Barnwell, I came here to be a good citizen. That’s what my dad taught me,” said Sunil.

They didn’t expect to stay forever, but they now know God placed them in the small town for a reason.

“Barnwell is not a little town to me anymore; it’s my family,” said Sunil. “I feel I’m no longer just a good citizen but am now Barnwell’s son.”

That’s because the Barnwell community has been a surrogate family to Sunil, who lost both of his parents about 15 years ago. Never making them feel like outsiders, Barnwell embraced the entire family, which was only solidified during Sunil’s recent health scare.

“We are blessed to be surrounded with such loving people and a great community! What better place to live and serve,” said Supreethi.

Sunil was raised to help other people. He’s someone who many people seek out for work, advice, or help. This experience reversed that role as he was now the one in need.

“This has humbled me as a person,” he said.

DON’T WORRY

After he regained consciousness at the hospital, his first question was if he could go home. He knew his employees, family, and others were depending on him.

“My responsibility kicked in as husband, father, and boss to my employees,” said Sunil.

But he had no reason to worry because everyone stepped up in his absence.

“You’ve got to trust God to take care of things. Never doubt it, just do it,” he said.

The restaurant was only closed the day after the accident. The employees stepped up by taking on extra roles in the absence of Sunil and his family, who all help out.

“I’m very proud of the staff. They made sure there was no deficit,” said Sunil.

Mike and Amy Patel, the owners of the Winton Inn and Sunil’s partners in the restaurant, also came from Charleston to help out while Sunil was out. Several other people also volunteered to work, if needed, to help ensure the restaurant stayed open.

Supreethi also stepped up as Sunil’s caregiver. The two have been married for 16 years but have known each other since first grade.

“Most of time I’ve been the man of the house taking care of everything. But the last few weeks she took care of everything for me,” said Sunil of his lifetime friend and partner.

During his time in the hospital, someone attempted to steal items from his house, but they were not successful. The family thanks the Barnwell Police Department for their quick response.

Several pipes burst at their house and also at the hotel during the freezing weather a couple weeks ago. However, his neighbors helped fix the pipe at his house while a community member helped with the hotel.

“I want Jesus Christ’s name, Barnwell County, and the people in the community who helped me to get the glory,” said Sunil.

He’s also grateful to every person who prayed for him. Sunil, who is a Christian, attends First Baptist Church of Barnwell, which fervently prayed for his healing and was there for his family. However, he’s heard from many other churches who said they were praying for him.

WALKING MIRACLE

Sunil and his family know his medical issues could have been much worse, but they saw God’s providence every step of the way.

Though he can’t remember exactly what he was doing at the time of the fall, Sunil thinks he was climbing a ladder to inspect something on his two-story house. He believes the ladder slipped, causing him to hit his head on the concrete. He was able to go inside where he laid down on the couch. His family soon found him bleeding and called 911.

“God not only saved him during the fall but also made him get up and come inside, which is another miracle,” said Supreethi.

Supreethi said she will always be grateful to everyone who reached out, especially Rebecca Jones who left her job and followed Supreethi to the hospital plus Rev. Bart Kelley for staying with her until Sunil was airlifted and then following her to the hospital.

Sunil arrived at the hospital with severe head trauma. Doctors monitored him closely, worrying about brain clots and bleeding.

“The medical team’s job was to take care of my health, but they also made sure they were available to my family,” said Sunil, who thanks all the medical team.

Showing gradual improvement day after day, he eventually moved out of the ICU into a private room. The neurologist released him from his services on Dec. 15 after a CT scan showed everything to be stable. He held long conversations with visitors Dec. 18.

He is now healing at home as he works to get back to normal.

On Dec. 29, Sunil returned to Augusta for three back-to-back checkups. A hearing test revealed there was no hearing loss while a visit with the neurologist showed progress. Another specialist evaluated his facial paralysis and tests showed significant improvement. Now only three of his six nodes are impacted, whereas all six were impacted when he arrived at the hospital.

“I have no control over the right side of my face, but it is better,” he said.

He’s grateful bloodwork showed no issues or infections. He goes back in a few months for another follow-up and plans to take physical therapy.

“Our God is awesome! I have witnessed God working in Sunil’s life physically, spiritually and emotionally. He changed him for an even better person. God is still in miracle working business,” said Supreethi.

They now see the rainbow after the storm.

BACK TO BUSINESS

As his body continues to heal, Sunil is taking is easy as he returns to work to guide his team.

One task that was important to him was honoring his commitment to the Cascades paper plant to host a catered meal for 85 employees on Christmas Day. The company wanted to show appreciation to employees who had to work on the holiday, and Sunil was not about to let them down. The meal went on as planned.

Even from his hospital bed, Sunil was sharing plans about enlarging the restaurant and motel. Supreethi suggested he get well first before he plans anything else.

Though Sunil is a business owner, he said God is the owner of his life. “Whatever I have is His - physically, mentally, and financially,” he said.

“All praises to God alone who confirmed with me that He has plans for Sunil and He was not done yet with Sunil. Whatever has happened, it was not meant to harm him but give him hope and future,” said Supreethi, referencing Jeremiah 29:11.

That future includes Barnwell’s newest son working to better his community.