YOU’LL SEE WHY WE HAD THIS LITTLE HALL A FOUNDATION. ALL THAT’S LEFT AT SOME HOMES IN ELKHORN. YOU GOT A BUNCH OF HIGH SCHOOL KIDS JUST WALKING BY AND SAYING. HEY, DO YOU NEED SOME HELP? AND, YOU KNOW, BIG, STRONG KIDS, AND YOU JUST SEND THEM TO WORK SUNDAY HELPERS MOVE THE WRECKAGE OUT OR FED THE VOLUNTEERS. THEY JUST CAN’T STOP. THEY DON’T WANT TO STOP TO GET SOMETHING, BUT. THEY NEED TO NOURISH THEM THEMSELVES. BEHIND ME YOU CAN SEE HOMES THAT WERE JUST COMPLETELY LEVELED, MAKING IT CLEAR WHY WHEN A TORNADO STRIKES, YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE UPSTAIRS. BUT FOR SOME, LIKE AN MS. PATIENT IN THIS HOME BEHIND ME GETTING DOWNSTAIRS JUST. ISN’T THAT SIMPLE. SEVERAL OF THE VOLUNTEERS HERE KNOW FRANK WELL. HE’S A QUADRIPLEGIC MAN. THE FIRST PATIENT OF NEBRASKA MEDICINE’S MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS AT HOME ACCESS PROGRAM. THEY WELCOME YOU INTO THEIR HOME. IT’S LIKE. YOU REALLY. THEY BECOME MORE LIKE FAMILY. IT’S LIKE IT WASN’T EVEN A QUESTION, RIGHT? LIKE WHEN YOUR FAMILY BECOMES INJURED, YOU KNOW, NEEDS YOU. WHERE DO YOU GO? YOU GO TO HELP THEM. AND SO THAT’S WHY WE’RE HERE IN HOME CARE PROVIDERS IN THE PROGRAM. LIKE RENEE STUART, ARE TAKING CHARGE AT FRANK’S HOME. WE’VE BEEN COMING TO THIS HOUSE EVERY 3 TO 6 MONTHS FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS. AND SO IT REALLY BECOMES LIKE PART OF YOUR FAMILY. AND SO WHEN YOU WALK IN AND YOU SEE THIS AND LIKE THE MAGNITUDE OF UNDERSTANDING THE FEAR THAT WAS HAPPENING IN. THOSE MOMENTS IS JUST OVERWHELMING. FRANK WAS ON A BED IN THIS ROOM ON FRIDAY WHEN THE TORNADO STRUCK WITH NO TIME TO MOVE. HIS WIFE AND SON LAID ON TOP OF HIM AS PART OF THE ROOF, COLLAPSED IN ON THEM. AS OUR TEAM WAS WATCHING THIS UNFOLD, WE JUST. HAD THIS GUT WRENCHING FEELING, THIS FEAR THAT SOMETHING LIKE THIS EXACTLY WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. FRANK WAS. HIT IN THE HEAD, BUT THEY SAY HE’S GOING TO BE OKAY. HE’S SINGING TO THE NURSES AS HIS WIFE AND SON ARE DOING WELL. AND WHO KNOWS IF THINGS WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT IF THEY WERE IN THE BEDROOM NEXT DOOR? IT’S A MIRACLE. IT’S AN ABSOLUTE MIRACLE. AND STUART POINTS TO SIGNS OF THAT MIRACLE UNTOUCHED ON THE WALLS. TWO CROSSES AND A PICTURE OF THE VIRGIN MARY. YOU LOOK AROUND AND YOU’RE LIKE, HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN? AND YOU’RE LIKE, BUT THROUGH IT ALL, THE GOOD LORD WAS HERE. I MEAN, THERE’S NO OTHER EXPLANATION FOR IT THAT DOESN’T JUST HAPPEN BY CHANCE. A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY SET UP A FUND FOR THE EXPENSES. THEY’LL FACE GOING FORWARD, INCLUDING
‘It’s a miracle’: Wife, son lay over quadriplegic man in upstairs room as tornado strikes Nebraska home
A foundation is all that remains at several homes in Elkhorn, Nebraska.The ceiling is gone in one upstairs bedroom there, but you can still stand inside it today. On Saturday, volunteers helping the family pick up the pieces discovered a cross remained on the wall.On Friday, a quadriplegic man with multiple sclerosis was in his bed in that room. Without time to move, his wife and a son decided to use their bodies to protect him, volunteer Renee Stewart said.The man, Frank, was struck in the head, Stewart said. Part of the ceiling collapsed onto them. He’s hospitalized but expected to be OK. The wife and son were unharmed. Stewart knows Frank because she cares for him through Nebraska Medicine’s Multiple Sclerosis at Home Access program, or MAHA. He was the first patient in the program, she said.She said around 15 people associated with the program are helping with the cleanup and salvaging what they can, allowing family to focus on Frank at the hospital.”They welcome you into their home,” she said. “They become more like family. It’s like it wasn’t even a question, right? Like, when your family … needs you, where do you go? You go to help them. And so that’s why we’re here.”As they were watching the storm coverage, Stewart and others in the program worried about their patients in the tornado’s path, because they are unable to move to safety easily.”We just had this gut-wrenching feeling, this fear that something like this exactly was doing to happen,” she said.A friend of the family is looking to raise funds for upcoming expenses, including a wheelchair van. The link to the online fundraiser is here.Julie Cornell contributed to this report.
A foundation is all that remains at several homes in Elkhorn, Nebraska.
The ceiling is gone in one upstairs bedroom there, but you can still stand inside it today. On Saturday, volunteers helping the family pick up the pieces discovered a cross remained on the wall.
On Friday, a quadriplegic man with multiple sclerosis was in his bed in that room. Without time to move, his wife and a son decided to use their bodies to protect him, volunteer Renee Stewart said.
The man, Frank, was struck in the head, Stewart said. Part of the ceiling collapsed onto them. He’s hospitalized but expected to be OK. The wife and son were unharmed.
Stewart knows Frank because she cares for him through Nebraska Medicine’s Multiple Sclerosis at Home Access program, or MAHA. He was the first patient in the program, she said.
She said around 15 people associated with the program are helping with the cleanup and salvaging what they can, allowing family to focus on Frank at the hospital.
“They welcome you into their home,” she said. “They become more like family. It’s like it wasn’t even a question, right? Like, when your family … needs you, where do you go? You go to help them. And so that’s why we’re here.”
As they were watching the storm coverage, Stewart and others in the program worried about their patients in the tornado’s path, because they are unable to move to safety easily.
“We just had this gut-wrenching feeling, this fear that something like this exactly was doing to happen,” she said.
A friend of the family is looking to raise funds for upcoming expenses, including a wheelchair van. The link to the online fundraiser is here.
Julie Cornell contributed to this report.
