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Christopher "Syn" Wright knows what it means to lose nearly everything and having to start from scratch.

Even his recent struggles, however, pale in comparison to the tragic fire on Feb. 6 in Blount County that claimed the lives of four children. But with the support of local musicians and fans for his own plight fresh in his mind, Wright immediately agreed to play at Sunday's benefit concert for the remaining family members that survived the devastating fire.

"It was very hard to hear about that happening," Wright told The Daily Times this week. "Just having had my own son, I can't imagine losing four children. I've seen a lot of [stuff] back home in D.C., where I grew up — drug dealers, pimps, people getting shot — but this is really bad. So as soon as I saw the bulletin that the Knox Scene Coalition posted on Myspace about the benefit, I said yes immediately.

"The scene came together 100 percent for me, and I can't not give back. We'll play as many benefits as we can, actually, because all of those people were there for me when I really needed them."

That was last August, when Wright — 35 and a bear of a guy — suffered a full-blown stroke. The entire right side of his body was paralyzed; he couldn't walk, talk or even swallow liquids without help. Even worse, doctors told him he might never sing again. For the singer/screamer of Maryville metal band Facelock, the news was devastating.

"Music is the only thing I know how to do, so it was like everything I had was being yanked away from me," said Wright, who moved to Blount County to marry his fiancé, a DENSO employee. "I went through the depths of depression, man. But I had a lot of friends and support, and if it wasn't for them and the rest of the community, I don't know where I would be.

"I just knew I wasn't going to let the stroke be the end of me. I guess I got angry, because I was determined to find some other way to be involved. If I couldn't sing, I was going to work in a studio, because I know how to run a sound board and things like that. But thank God I've been able to come back as well as I have."

It hasn't been an easy journey. He was in the hospital for almost two weeks, and after being discharged, he returned shortly thereafter with breathing problems. That was followed by intense physical therapy — three hours a day, every day of the week for three months, gradually learning how to walk, talk and swallow.

"It was like relearning life all over again," he said. "That pretty much ate up my life for four months. I had to put my band on hold, but my bandmates were very supportive of me, and that was a big help. And I wouldn't have gotten through it if it wasn't for my wife and my kid and my family. And the scene itself really pulled together and put on a couple of benefit shows for me."

On Dec. 2, Wright returned to the stage for the first time since his stroke — walking with a limp, sometimes slurring his words and having to cut the Facelock set short because of breathing issues.

But he did it, and he's performed four or five times since. And every day gets a little better, he added.

"I still have some problems — some good days and some bad days — but this is something that's a lot better than just sitting at the house," he said. "The biggest adjustment is accepting help. I've never been one to get help from people or even ask for it, and here I was depending on other people to do things I was used to doing myself — simple things like getting a glass of water. that was a little weird for me."

Sunday, Facelock will join with six other bands to raise money for the Debuty family. As much as he's struggled over the past six months with health problems, Wright can't help but be grateful that his stroke wasn't worse — that he's been able to recuperate and continues to do so, and that his relationships with family and friends is stronger than ever. Which is another reason he wants so badly to give back at Sunday's show.

"We're starting to get our feet back under us, and in March, we're going to record our first full-length CD," he said. "We've got 10 to 15 songs, and we'll go on a little tour at the end of the summer. We want to spend the early part of the summer just branching out."