Meet our Extreme-ly Deserving Tennessee Family!
| Ty and the Extreme crew pay a
visit to the Hawkins Family on
Friday, July 28 -- 'door-knock' day. |
The Hawkins family's heroic and heartbreaking story epitomized the larger tragedy of April 7, 2006, when deadly tornadoes stormed across the mid-state, killing seven others in Sumner County alone, destroying over 1,000 buildings and causing an estimated $68.6 million in property damage.
Jerrod, a firefighter for the Brentwood Fire Department, was on duty at the time and could only watch the storm from his fire station as the tornado completely destroyed the Hawkins home, ripping the house from its foundation. Amy heroically saved the lives of Jair and Cole by rushing them to the basement and then lying on top of them as the storm raged around them.
Tragically, the falling bricks, debris, and concrete that pummeled Amy caused permanent injuries. Her vertebrae and ribs were crushed, her lungs were punctured, and she sustained serious head trauma. After the tornado passed, neighbors found Amy and the boys under a massive pile of rubble and called Jerrod at the fire station, who had to instruct his neighbors how to give his own wife CPR. Left paralyzed by the destructive force of nature, Amy is slowly recovering, but doctors say she will be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Led by Jerrod's fellow firefighters at the Brentwood Fire Department and the Hendersonville Civitan Club, Middle Tennessee has rallied around the family with food, monetary, and material donations. While the Hawkins family was temporarily living in a rental home, it is not wheelchair-friendly and Amy -- recently returned from three months of intensive therapy in Atlanta -- has great difficulty moving about.
Visit the website that started it all, with the online petition to get an "Extreme" home for the Hawkins Family:
www.HendersonvilleHero.com |
The community, identifying with Amy's story of sacrifice and heroism, has collected over 50,000 names from across the country, nominating the Hawkins family for a visit from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, making the Hawkins the most-nominated candidate family in the program's four-year history. |
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