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A family, whose home was destroyed in a mudslide during Hurricane Helene, is saying their family dog, Tucker, found their 11-year-old grandson under 12-feet of rubble.
The 11-year-old boy, Jamie Parker, tells WCNC, “I probably would have died if it wasn’t for Tucker.”
Jamie recounts the incident with WCNC and tells them, “it was terrifying for me”. He said that he, along with Tucker, was home with his grandparents and sister, Jemma, when the mudslide hit their home.
Jamie’s grandmother, Donna Johns, recounts the incident saying, “All of a sudden I felt the house go like this and I saw walls coming at me and I thought, ‘What?’”
“Then the house mudslided, and I face-planted into a wall, full body went flying,” Jamie said.
The boy also shares that his grandmother ended up on the roof, while he was thrown under the stairs, in a pile of mudslide debris, about 12 feet deep.
“It was scary, I thought I was all alone,” Jamie said. “I thought they went down. I thought my family had died.”
As Jamie was lying under all the debris, he said he started screaming on top of his lungs for help, but heard no one responding to his screams,
“It felt like forever down there,” Jamie said. “I couldn’t see sunlight. I could feel water dripping on me, and I thought I was either gonna drown or run out of air.”
But then he saw a ray of hope in the form of his four-legged best friend, Tucker.
Jamie recalls, “Tucker was above me, and he was barking. I heard him whining and barking.”
Jamie’s grandfather, Michael Johns, said that Tucker wouldn’t move from his spot on top of all the debris.
“He stayed on top of the pile and was barking away, and I just thought he was going crazy,” Michael Johns reveals. “I didn’t realize he had located the boy!”
The family reveals that Tucker stayed where he was until help arrived and the firefighters dug Jamie out.
After being rescued, Jamie was airlifted to Atrium Health Levine Children’s Jeff Gordon’s Children’s Center in Concord, North Carolina to receive proper care.
The Atrium Health Levine Children’s reveals on Facebook that after 36 hours of the incident, the family was finally reunited at the hospital.
Furthermore, Atrium Health Levine Children’s shares that Tucker was rescued near the family’s collapsed home and was reunited with Jamie outside of the hospital.
The hospital also reveals that Tucker is currently being fostered by one of their nurses while the family stays at the hospital.
“Tucker is now being fostered by one of our nurses while the family recovers and works to find a new place to live, giving Jamie the comfort of knowing his family—including his four-legged one—are by his side.”
The family tells WCNC that Tucker was actually a shelter dog, and was days away from being put down.
However, Jamie and Jemma used all their allowance money to pay for Tucker’s adoption fee. Recounting Tucker’s Gotcha Day, Jamie said, “He was the last dog there. When he saw us he ran right up to us.”
And that was the day the siblings rescued Tucker. “And he rescued me,” Jamie said.
You can help Tucker and his whole family raise money to help them get a new home by donating here.