Returning for only a few hours after a monthslong recovery following stroke, tree slices into Danville woman's home

After spending more than two months bounching between a hospital and rehabilitation facility recovering from a stroke, Kathy McBride, 70, had only been home a few hours when a tree slammed into her house.

From the front of the Elizabeth Street home, there's little visible damage.

Walking around back, the picture becomes clearer. A huge tree sliced into the home and even damaged part of the foundation.

Walking inside, the damage is all too vivid. In her bedroom, a huge 3-foot-long tree branch still rests on the floor, along with parts of the ceiling and insulation.

Navigating around the room involves long steps and stepping over mounds of debris.

A ceiling fan dangles precariously by wires next to severed joists also hanging low in the room.

Looking up, the sky peeks through holes in the roof.

McBride — who doesn't have homeowners insurance for financial reasons — is staying with her daughter, Missy Martin, in Cascade for the time being.

"We don't know what we're going to do," another daughter, Tracy Grey, said Friday. "We don't know how we're going to fix her house."

An early estimate put the price tag at about $46,000, but doesn't include repairing the floor since they can't see the extent of the damage.

The family has established a GoFundMe page — https://gofund.me/dc27934a — as a way of coming up with the money to fix the home.

As of Saturday night, they had only raised $40.

"It's sickening just being here," McBride said. "I loved my home"

She's lived there for more than 25 years. The original part of the house was built in the 1950s and a newer part was added on in 1970.

"I worked really hard to get it to where it was," she said, motioning to a diagonal shiplap-covered wall.

She did most of a recent remodel work herself about 15 years ago. In fact, that wall was inspired while at Lowe's one day. She saw the shiplap and the project started.

"This is my home, I love this place," she said. "It's an old neighborhood, but I still love this place."

What happened

Sitting on her sofa — the very spot she was at when the nightmare began — McBride recounted the July 2 storm.

"It was like a quick flash thunderstorm," she called it, virtually spinning up out of the blue.

She didn't hear it coming.

"I heard the loud bang when the tree fell on the house," she said of the storm that hit at about 3 p.m.

Then she heard "buckets of water being poured."

That's when she looked over into her bedroom — only a few feet from where she was watching TV — and saw the devastation. The heavy rain was dumping on the floor.

"I've always felt really safe in my house," she said.

Until that day.

She immediately called her daughters and then the fire department after the tree came crashing down.

"My neighbors came over just as soon as it happened," she remembered. "I appreciate them being here with me."

"They really helped as much as they could," Grey said, explaining they were the ones who put a tarp over the roof for protection.

Last Friday was the first time Grey had seen the damage firsthand, when she met her mother at the house for an interview with the Register & Bee.

"Devastating" was the only way she could describe it. Grey was out of town when the storm hit.

"It's a lot worse than the pictures that I saw," she said, seated on the sofa with her mother in the sweltering heat.

The home has no electricity since the fire department pulled the meter, a common occurrence in situations like this as a safety precaution.

Friday also was the second time McBride had been back to the house. She returned earlier last week to clean out the refrigerator and salvage some frozen items.

She still hasn't been able to get her clothes from her bedroom.

"I don't know what we're going to do," Grey said again. "Mom's only 70 years old, she's still got a lot of life to live."

"We live to be old folk in this family," McBride said with a laugh.

Actually, she'll be 71 in about two weeks.

Medical issues

A few months ago, McBride fell and hit her head. That prompted the family to call the rescue squad where she was taken to the hospital.

Tests revealed she had a stroke. But that wasn't the end of the medical issues.

In what amounted to an in-and-out situation bouncing from the hospital to a rehab facility or her daughter's home to recover, over a span of more two months she developed double pneumonia, sepsis and anemia.

"We honestly did not think she was going to pull out," Grey revealed for the first time to her mother during the Register & Bee interview.

"I didn't think I was either," McBride said. "I felt like I was done for."

That was also the first time the mother admitted the dark thoughts of her dire situation.

"We didn't think she was going to live," Janet Eshbaugh, McBride's sister who lives in Florida, also said in a phone interview. "The doctors saved her."

It was July 2 when she had finally improved to the point where she could return home from staying with her daughter.

She was only there a few hours before the storm struck, plummeting her into yet another emergency situation.

Over the quarter-century living at the home, she had never experienced such a storm, not even when Tropical Storm Michael roared through in 2018. That tropical system littered the city with downed trees and caused one of the worst modern-day flood emergencies on record.

The recent storm also damaged dozens of other homes in Danville, plunging thousands into the dark. The National Weather Service in Blacksburg confirmed the damages were from straight-line winds.

"The weirdest thing is she wanted to go home so badly, and it was hours later that that tree fell into her house," Eshbaugh said.

No insurance

McBride cited financial hardship as the reason she didn't have homeowners insurance, something that's not required by city code, Danville spokesperson Arnold Hendrix confirmed to the Register & Bee.

Also, the state doesn't have any laws on the books that a homeowner must have insurance, according to Progressive Insurance. However, if a house is financed, the lender likely will make it a stipulation to get a loan.

"I had it at one time, but it's been years ago," McBride said.

Damage isn't just limited to the bedroom. Sheetrock, insulation and wires are hanging in her bathroom and the ceiling is buckled in her utility room.

Her screen-in back porch — missing part of the roof — still has pieces of the tree in it.

Even with no insurance of her own, some glimmers of hope emerged late last week.

The family believes the tree the fell actually belongs to the neighboring property, owned by Southern Hills Golf Course.

Hearing this, Eshbaugh stepped in and contacted the golf course.

"When I called, the owner was very professional about it," Eshbaugh said in a phone interview.

She said the insurance company for the golf course is going to open an investigation.

"At least, it's going in the right direction," Eshbaugh said. "Perhaps we'll be able to get that kind of help."

Local help

Grey said the American Red Cross assisted by providing $350.

Ginger Weaver, with the regional Red Cross, confirmed to the newspaper the nonprofit organization did meet with McBride and give aid.

"The Red Cross provides immediate, emergency assistance for those displaced such as this, as well as for those displaced due to fire, flood, etc," Weaver wrote in an email. "The Red Cross also has a cadre of Disaster Health Services professionals as well as Disaster Mental Health professionals that can assist these clients."

However, the help is only temporary.

"Long-term needs that the client may have must come from their personal resources, their own insurance, family members, friends or community resources that are set up to assist with longer term recovery assistance," Weaver explained.

When helping clients, Red Cross caseworkers can provide a list of local agencies that may be able to help.

Following what was described as a possible miscommunication, God's Pit Crew planned to send representatives out to the home Monday to see if there's anything they can do to help.

Grey initially said the family contacted the Danville-based disaster relief organization and learned they only helped if more than 100 homes were damaged.

"We checked in and believe when the family originally reached out, that answer was given in mistake and the team member didn't recognize they were asking about a local need," Carly Brashears, a spokesperson for God's Pit Crew, told the Register & Bee when asked about the situation Saturday morning.

"God's Pit Crew always monitors local situations as well," Brashears explained. "Several team members have been out on the grounds in Danville surveying damage from the recent storms and seeing what all can be helped."

Brashears said the family was "very appreciative to receive a call" from God's Pit Crew on Saturday morning.

Susan McCulloch, the Danville Community Development Department's division director of housing and development, said help from the city would depend on if someone is considered low-income. If so, they could refer the person to the Department of Social Services or other agencies.

"If she doesn't meet the income requirements, unfortunately, we aren't aware of any programs other than suggesting she contact family members," McCulloch explained.

After receiving a call from an initial email request, a social services representative didn't respond to a voicemail left by the Register & Bee on Friday afternoon.

About McBride

"She's always been the person who has looked after everyone," Eshbaugh said of her sister.

Now she needs someone to look after her.

She's still recovering from the stroke, requiring twice-a-week therapy sessions.

Before the stroke, she went on a cruise with her daughter.

Now she walks with the aid of a walker.

"She's just a great person," Eshbaugh said of McBride. "She's sick now. She's having a real struggle."

Living in Florida, Eshbaugh doesn't get to see her sister as often as she likes. But when McBride was able to make it down, she was able to relax.

The sisterly pair often will pick up canvases and start painting when they visit.

"Kathy was the one who is the artist," Eshbaugh said. "She's a very good painter."

One such painting — a woman in red lipstick partially hidden by a large hat — hangs over McBride's sofa. It's simply signed "Kathy" in 2019.

"She's just got a knack for interior design," Grey said of her mother.

"I spent a lot of years designing people's homes," McBride said.

She then pointed to another area of the living room that used to have a fireplace. She said one day she got tired of it, so she just covered it up, using the same shiplap that caught her eye on a venture to Lowe's.

"Her house was so pretty when you got inside," Eshbaugh said.