Around 2:00 am Monday morning, Perry heard a persistent knocking at our front door. Standing on the other side was a Tuscaloosa Police officer who had the unfortunate task of informing Perry that his mother and brother had been involved in a house fire. They'd made it out safely, but firefighters were still battling the blaze.

Once daylight arrived and the full extent of the damage was revealed, the fact that Coy and Mark managed to make it out of the house alive is truly amazing. Perry said the fire burned so hot, some of the firefighters visors actually melted.

Coy described waking up around 12:30 am after being struck in the head by something falling from the ceiling. Smoke saturated the room and debris burned on the floor around her. She screamed for Mark, Perry's brother, to get out as she tried to find her way to him through the haze.

Despite the roar, he heard her and crawled to the door where Coy said he was met by a neighbor who scooped him up and carried him to safety. Mark has Cerebral Palsy so this tragedy could have been much worse.

Sadly, the monumental task of recovering from a fire is one I'm familiar with. My parents suffered a total loss in 2006 after a water heater caught fire. You can see pictures from their fire in the gallery below.

To this day, we still discover things that were lost in the fire and my heart goes out to Coy and Mark for the emotional pain related to realizing some of the things you hoped to keep forever are gone. Things are things but losing physical evidence of a special memory really stings.

This morning Perry's mom continues to recover from burns on her hands and feet. Portions of her hair was singed. Sadly, her cat Gabby died in the fire from what we are assuming was smoke inhalation. She was buried the following morning in our yard beside the creek.

Coy and Mark are as comfortably settled as one can be after the reality of starting completely over sets in but they are also thankful. God is ALWAYS good even when our world is burning.

PLEASE check the batteries in your smoke alarm TODAY.

 

 

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