Blessed: A Family’s Struggle to Rise from the Ashes

By Dr. Sherri A. Young

Blessed is a journey about love, loss and the growth and rebuilding of a Christian family whose home was decimated by an explosion and narrowly escaped with their lives by only 7 minutes. They survived with literally only the clothes on their backs. This story is how they dealt with the aftermath and tried to piece their lives back together through the support of their family, friends, and their faith in God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781973684244

Dr. Sherri A. Young

Dr. Sherri A. Young is a board certified family physician, mother, wife, and Christian. She was inspired to write her true story after she and her beloved family survived a house explosion. She always had a passion for helping others and wanted to share her story to inspire others to navigate through tough times. Dr. Young continues to help others through her professional work in her home state of West Virginia. Since the explosion, she had worked hard to rebuild her life with her family and is thankful for her family and friends every day.

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Copyright © 2020 Dr. Sherri A. Young.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8425-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8426-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8424-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020901107

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/27/2020

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

One  The Explosion

Two  As the House Burns

Three  The Aftermath

Four  After the Flames

Five  The New Normal

Six  The Best and the Worst of Humankind

Seven  Sick of This House

Eight  Grieving and the Phantom House Syndrome

Nine  The Long Haul

Ten  Final Thoughts

Helpful Resources for Fire Prevention and Safety

Bibliography

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am forever grateful to all the people who helped our family after the explosion. Thanks to all who donated to help us rebuild our lives from nothing. I am thankful for every hug and every prayer. We are blessed to have the best friends and family and are thankful to God for you all.

A special thanks goes to the pastors, staff, and members of Bible Center Church and Bible Center School. Without your support, we would not have been able to move forward. The parents and teachers of Bible Center School were some of the first people to reach out to us. We are beyond grateful for your godly generosity.

To Curt and Andrea: Praise God for you! There are no words that can express how truly grateful we are for your being there for us the night of the explosion and the months after. Know this: you are family, and we love you.

To Stacy and Jarrod: The moment our daughters became friends, we became family. Thank you for everything.

To Stormy, Cicily, and Betsy: Thank you for everything from clothes to school supplies. You are godly women, and I praise God that you are in my life.

To Amy: You are a superstar! Thank you for setting out to find us the day of the explosion. We are grateful for you and your family, more than you could know.

To Karen: Your strength is inspiring, and your friendship is amazing. Thank you for everything.

To sweet Aunt Kathy: Thank you for passing down your family heirlooms to Gabi. That means the world to me.

To the Casto family: Thank you for the hugs, prayers, clothes, and friendship.

To the Ingolds: Thank you for your friendship, your fellowship, and your special gifts to Gabi.

To Art and Missy: Thank you for your support and for the wonderful gifts for Gabi.

To Buffy and David: Thank you for the hugs, prayers, and doughnuts (all our favorites).

To Jacque: Thank you for the facial and clothes. That was the first time in months I felt human.

To Helen and Rich: Thank you for your support and a special thank you for helping Gabi get connected with her friends so soon after the explosion.

To Miss Ramey: Thank you for supporting Gabi and helping her readjust to school.

To Aunt Mary Jane, Aunt Mickey, Aunt Sheila, Aunt Sandy, and Aunt Shirley: Thank you for your love, your support, and the beautiful housewarming party when we finally found our new home.

To Danny and Trish: Thank you for helping me become a better version of myself. You are both an inspiration.

Finally, some extra special thanks go out to the following individuals:

To God: We thank You every day for Your divine blessings. We thank You for our friends and family. We thank You for Your love, mercy, and grace.

To Gabrielle: my beautiful angel, I love you more than the moon and stars. You are my true gift from God. You are my everything.

To Adam: my husband, my soul mate, and my best friend, I am happy to survive this with you. I love you more than words can say.

To Mom and Dad: thank you for all that you have done for me before and after the explosion. I love you more than you know. I am beyond blessed that you are my parents.

To Marie: thank you for giving Adam to this world. We would be lost without you both. We love you.

To Nanny, Papaw Young, and Papaw Pendry: You made if to heaven way too soon. I miss you and love you. I am glad you didn’t see what happened that night, but I know you were with us.

To Mamaw Pendry: Thank you for being a strong and amazing role model. Your faith in God is inspiring. I love you.

To our friends and family: thank you for being in our life, and thank you for loving and helping us during the worst time of our lives. We are blessed beyond measure to have our friends and family with us. I officially dedicate this book to all of you.

To all 911 operators and first responders: thank you, and may God bless you in all that you do.

INTRODUCTION

Blessed: A Family’s Struggle to Rise from the Ashes is a true account of the night my family survived a house explosion. We lost our home and all our belongings but managed to stay alive, together. This story reveals the mental, emotional, and physical pain we endured during and after the explosion. In all of this, we placed God first. Our ability to rebuild our lives as well as we did occurred only by the blessing of God.

There is no question that God spared us from a violent and painful death that night. His hand was also at work protecting our neighbors and first responders as the events unfolded. Not only were our lives at risk, everyone near our house that night could have been hurt or killed.

Losing our worldly belongings and our sense of safety and security was more difficult than I would have ever imagined. When I look at my family and see that we are safe now, I know that we made it out of that house with everything we truly needed: each other.

I thank God every day for our friends, our family, and everyone who has helped us during this difficult time. At the end of the day, even the days we were homeless and a bit helpless, we have been thankful. It is my hope that readers will be able to see the beauty in their lives, especially during bad situations. I hope that others will be inspired to move past painful events in their lives. Pain and loss are never easy. However, we are grateful, and we are truly blessed.

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ONE

The Explosion

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T he day leading up to the explosion seemed like any other day. An unseasonably warm and rainy day, January 11, 2018, was otherwise quite pleasant. It was my daughter, Gabi’s, tenth-and-a-half birthday. Gabi is one of the warmest and most compassionate people I know. She has wavy brown hair that flows over her shoulders almost down to her waist, deep chocolate-brown eyes, and an exquisite smile that lights up any room she enters. She has a kind heart and cares about every living creature. Once, she asked me to sign a pact to never kill a bug. Truly, she wouldn’t even kill a fly. It’s easy to celebrate wonderful people, and Gabi is no exception. That is why my husband, Adam, and I celebrate Gabi at every opportunity, including half-birthdays.

After a usually bland day at work, Adam and I picked Gabi up from school to take her out for a small celebration. We started with shopping at her favorite store, although she shopped mostly for her friends who had birthday parties planned over the next two weekends. After shopping, we briefly returned home to work on homework, and then we took her to her favorite Italian restaurant for a celebration dinner. At exactly 6:24 p.m., we gave her a big kiss on the cheek to celebrate the minute she was born. Following a delicious dinner, we returned home to finish Gabi’s homework and prepare for school and work the next day.

A little later than usual, Gabi went to bed, and I cleaned up for the evening. It had been a long day, and the Thursday night celebration had made me feel more tired than usual. Adam and I fell asleep while watching the ten o’clock news. The television remained on when I woke up.

Around one thirty in the morning, I awoke to use the restroom. Immediately, I noticed a strong propane smell. Groggy from the long evening, I convinced myself the reason I smelled propane had to do with the company refilling the tank earlier in the week. After using the restroom, I washed my hands and returned to sit on the side of the bed. I watched Adam sleeping so peacefully. He had not slept well the night before, and I did not want to wake him. I argued with myself for a few moments that the propane odor was in my imagination, but my inner voice told me something was wrong. Very wrong. Even in the few moments since I had woken up, the propane smell seemed to be getting stronger. I tried again to convince myself I smelled propane runoff that the company might have spilled when they had refilled the tank four days earlier. The tank was freshly filled with nearly eight hundred gallons of propane. I thought possibly the amount of rain we’d had that evening had brought the smell out of the ground, and I hoped this wasn’t a major issue.

Reluctantly, I woke Adam and Gabi up from their sleep. Immediately, they both smelled the propane. They instantly knew something was wrong. We had no idea how horribly wrong the situation was. The odor from the propane was getting stronger and was starting to burn my eyes and throat. Gabi said she could taste the propane as soon as she awoke.

Within minutes, the stench of propane was almost overwhelming—suffocating—and getting worse. There was very little chance that the small amount they had let escape during the refill a few days before would be causing that much stink. Hastily, Adam and I went to search for the source of the propane smell. A sinking