Man grateful to be alive after tornado slams him into wall, leaving him paralyzed
LONDON, Ky. (WKYT/Gray News) - A tornado tore a Kentucky family’s home and lives apart, leaving a man with special needs paralyzed from the waist down.
Shawn Cupp says after she got off work Friday night, she was told her home in London, along with several others on Philpot Road, was completely leveled by a tornado. To add to the panic, her brother, David Krell, has special needs and lives with her. He was home when the storm hit, WKYT reports.
“Unfortunately, he does it. He said he heard the freight train, and he knew it was over,” Cupp said.
Krell told his sister that he was slammed into the wall, causing him to black out. When he woke up, he tried to get up and couldn’t. It wasn’t until a few hours later that neighbors across the way heard Krell screaming for help, Cupp says. The neighbors found him and started digging him out of the rubble.
“He was probably about 80 feet from the trailer,” Cupp said.
Cupp says she believes if those neighbors hadn’t heard her brother, he wouldn’t have survived. She added that a guardian angel must have been on his side.
“When our mother ed away, we had an urn. The urn was found intact...right beside him,” Cupp said.
Krell suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down, but despite everything, Cupp says he’s still in good spirits.
“You know, he’s laughing. He’s just happy to be alive,” she said.
With her brother’s injury and losing their home, Cupp says the family is taking things one day at time, but they are remaining grateful they have each other.
“It’s gonna be a long road, just trying to put everything back together and get prepared for him,” Cupp said.
Cupp’s family has set up a GoFundMe to help her rebuild and pay for Krell’s medical expenses.
The National Weather Service confirmed that the tornado that tore through several counties, including Laurel County, on Friday night was an EF-4. According to officials, the storm reached peak winds of 170 miles per hour. At its widest point, the storm stretched nearly one mile across and stayed on the ground for approximately 56 miles.
At least 17 people in Laurel County and two others in neighboring counties were killed in the storm.
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