Son rescues mother from house fire

ABILENE, Texas ( KTAB/KRBC ) – A mother and son lost everything after a fire consumes their home.

It was an incident that nearly ended in tragedy. On Monday evening, Melody Hendry was lying in bed when she heard a pop from her fuse box and saw smoke and fire start filling her room. As the fire grew, she called her son, Gabriel, who was visiting a neighbor, to help her get out.

Due to the fire’s location, Melody could not exit from the front of the home, so her only exit was a back door damaged to the point where she could not open it. Gabriel had to force open a back door to save his mother and described the series of events.

“There was flames on the other side of the house where the water heater was. And I come over here and the back door was locked. So, I was trying to break it open, and smoke and the fire were bleeding through the ceiling and the closet, and I’m trying to get all the animals. Tell my mom to Come on. We got to go! We got to go!”

Melody professes her son as her savior and says that without his help, she would have surely perished in the fire.

“I almost didn’t make it out. If it hadn’t been for my son, I wouldn’t have.”

The two escaped the flames with their pets, but by the time the fire department was able to put out the fire, the house was a total loss. Both mother and son, who lived in the home together, cannot stay in the home because of the damage and have since been staying in a local hotel because of the generosity of the Red Cross and the church that Melody works for as a daycare worker. Melody spoke about how the aid has helped them in the last week.

“They bought me my son some clothes. They made us some food, and I’m just waiting to return to work. But I can’t go back to work until I get everything together.”

The two live on little means and say that they can stay at the hotel until next Monday, October 14, but when that day comes, they do not have the finances to continue and may be left homeless. Because of this, their family members have set up a GoFundMe to help the mother and son with necessities like food and clothing and to help the two find a place to live.

The family says that if anyone wishes to donate you can go to: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-melody-rise-from-the-ashes-of-tragedy?qid=78a10380a3a521c49bdbabfc2cf010d7

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