Gun store clerk nearly ready to get back to work

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - After weeks of rehab, a gun store clerk shot in the chest nearly two months ago is almost ready to resume his daily routine.

That daily routine will mean a return to the gun store.

Ben Chance plans to go back to work at Don's Guns; he’s hoping to get back this week. “It’s been a very difficult road, especially for my kids. They didn't know whether or not I was going to make it or not make it. It took a toll on my whole family really,” explained Chance.

Ben Chance is taking recovery, day by day.

“There's not a day goes by that I don’t think about it. It was a pretty serious situation. I think I’m pretty lucky to be here. I thank God every day that I still wake up,” said Chance.

When he wakes up these days, it's off to physical therapy, three times a week.

The reserved 42-year-old was shot in the chest when he was checking a customer out back in September. He shot back, killing the 26-year-old.

 “I gotta get back to the way things were before. It’s kinda hard to do, because it’s me before and me after. This is something I’m going to have to deal with for the rest of my life,” Chance added.

The Ben Chance we saw Monday, has already come a long way from the man we met in a hospital bed just days after he was shot.

Now, eight weeks later, and eight weeks stronger, Chance can move his right arm above his head. He could barely raise it at all when he first started physical therapy. But the recovery is more than physical: it's emotional and psychological.

“I wanted to write a letter to the family, to tell them I’m sorry they lost a loved one, but I had to protect myself,” he added.

He’s had a little help in the recovery process. He saw a dog needing to be adopted on IndyStyle one morning.

“Ben was actually pretty depressed, but when he saw this dog, he just lit up. He’s a lot happier now, there’s a lot more smiling going on,” said his fiancé Sylvia Bowman.

“I got a second chance at life, and I saw this dog up for adoption,” he said. “I wanted to give him a second chance.”

Ben has been back at Don's Guns a couple times, he tells us. He says he was a bit jumpy, and nervous, but he's ready to get back full-time.

Ben still needs to be cleared by another doctor to get the official okay to head back to work. His goal is Black Friday.