Robbie Linley is the first to admit he should be dead.
Instead, 10 months after being told he had a tumor that would likely end his life, Linley is back to work at the Clarksdale Police Department as an assistant chief.
While the tumor on the fourth ventricle of his brain is now gone, Linley is still unable to do physical work at this time.
He has been back to work for close to two months, performing administrative duties and is expected to be back to 100 percent and do all of his old responsibilities within the next eight months, if not sooner.
“For all intents and purposes, what I was told, I should have died, but the Lord kept me alive for some reason,” Linley said. “It’s not about me. It’s about how God used me to tell a story.”
Linley, who is of the Baptist faith and attends Clarksdale Baptist Church, said he is able to tell his story about how the Lord works miracles and praying to God works.
He added that a lot of people – some who knew him and others who did not – prayed for him while he was in the intensive care unit. He said he appreciated all of the fundraisers that were held for him while he was sick.
“It’s all about the strength I’ve gained from God,” Linley said. “I found that strength through people praying for me and me praying for myself.”
Linley’s journey began in January 2018 when he had a fusion on his lower back. It was a 12-week recovery process and he came to work for a week in May.
Then, after attending a golf tournament in Batesville, Linley drove through a stop sign past the railroad tracks on Highway 6 in Marks. He drove past another stop sign in Clarksdale before arriving home.
“I made it home to the house and then my balance is off,” Linley recalled of that day. “My wife notices it.”
Linley had a cat scan done at the local hospital and the brain tumor was discovered. He was sent to Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, went to Semmes Murphey Clinic for surgery in Memphis and went into ICU at Memphis University. He was fed through a tube while in ICU. He spent a month at Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson where he had therapy five days a week. The therapy was respiratory, occupational, physical and speech.
“I had this tumor for awhile,” Linley said. “I had been having symptoms before and didn’t really notice them. I was having some headaches. I was having some dizziness. I just never really put two and two together.”
Linley encouraged anyone with symptoms indicating something may be wrong to seek medical attention. He is still experiencing double vision, but his eyesight is back to normal, he is able to walk without any issues and he is still going to a speech therapist to get his voice back to what it once was.
“My wife (Hayden) was able to be there for a month and really take care of me,” Linley said.
He has one son, Noah, 10, and one daughter, Anna Mims, 7.
Linley also praised the doctors, nurses and therapists in Clarksdale, Memphis and Jackson.
“A lot of people I’ve talked to, knowing what I’ve been through, including doctors, are really, really pleased with the point I’m at right now,” he said.
City officials and police department representatives were all glad to see Linley come back to work.
“We were just delighted and excited to have Linley back with the team,” said Clarksdale mayor Chuck Espy. “He brings a wealth of knowledge and his resource skills are impeccable and he’s able to help structure under the chief of police all of her corrective actions that she has implemented. We are very proud to have him back with us because he is very needed and very resourceful.”
Police chief Sandra Williams concurred.
“Before assistant chief Linley became healed, the short time we spent working on the police department together, we were making great progress and it was very heartbreaking to know that he suffered a brain tumor,” she said.
“I was able to visit with him a couple of times while he was hospitalized and, at this point, I am elated to have him back. We’re continuing to work together to move the police department forward. I believe, considering his near-death experience, that God will work through him to make a difference in the lives of others and a difference throughout this community.
“His duties since he has been back have strictly been administrative duties and we have a number of irons in the fire and with the assistant chief’s knowledge and experience in law enforcement, he is definitely an asset to the department and the community. I think it’s just remarkable for him to have recovered from such a serious illness and I believe that his mind is working as functionally as before he left because we still debate about cases and the law. I have to say, a time or two, I have lost. It’s just great having him back.”
Ward 2 commissioner Ken Murphey expressed similar sentiments.
“We’re glad to have Robbie back,” he said. “He’s a huge asset to the police department and he’s been missed. He’s a great assistant chief. It’s a miracle to have him back in the first place, but we’re happy that he’s our miracle.”
Linley said some of his specific duties include helping the city get grants, providing monthly reports and overseeing captains and officers.
Two grants Linley helped the police department get were a community policing grant from the federal government, which enables two community police officers to be on the streets, and a safety belt grant from the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security.
Linley said he could have been told to wait to come back to work until he was 100 percent, but Williams and city officials had other ideas.
“That speaks wonders to me and I’m so grateful for the mayor and the board for allowing me to come back to do my role in this capacity,” Linley said.
By law, Linley said the Family Medical Leave Act only required the city to pay him for the first 12 weeks he was out of work.
“But this city has done so much more for me than that,” Linley said. “I’m grateful for that.”
Linley, who is a 1993 Clarksdale High School graduate and joined the police department Sept. 15, 1997, said in the eight months he was out of work, he saw more feedback and involvement from the community. He added the police department, court system and community must work together.
He started as patrolman, became an investigator, corporal, sergeant and captain before his current role as assistant police chief and will use his more than 20 years of experience to help combat crime.
“We have to formulate a plan to attack the crime of Clarksdale,” he said. “I get to be a part of formulating that plan. My mind is fine. I have 20 years of experience I can fall back on where I can say this worked, but this didn’t, and we can come up with a plan to attack the crime.”
