Help Nicole's Family Rebuild After Devastating Fire

Hi everyone, my name is Nicole. I am starting this GoFundMe to help my family after we had a house fire Monday 11/18/24 and lost, literally, everything except the clothes on our backs (the slippers on my feet).

My 82-year-old father has owned our home, along with my mother who passed this June, since 1970. My daughter(s) and I have grown up in this house. Since day one, this house has been a home to us. Though we haven’t always “lived” there, from anywhere 5 minutes to overnight, we have been there close to every day of our lives. It has been a place of love, safety, comfort, and stability for us. The place we could always go, that would always be there. The place we knew we would find two people in this world that would always be there, always welcome us, always love us, always help us, always protect us, always be on our side. I have known for some time that I’d be coming to live in this home full-time again with whichever one of my parents outlived the other one. It would/will be over my dead body that either of my parents would spend the last days (years hopefully) anywhere but in their home. Period. No matter what I had/have to do to make sure that happens. 55 years after my mother and father moved in, you can only imagine how much each of us has accumulated that was supposed to always be in this house. Their life is in this house. It’s all my children and I know as mom and dad’s or grandma and grandpa’s house. OMG, literally, gone, all gone now. Insane. I don’t know that we will ever know everything we had and lost that was in our home.

My poor Dad. In June, he lost the love of his life and now this only a few months later. Oh my god, it breaks my heart!! February 2023, he was in a coma for 3 days after having a highly unexpected heart attack (not that anyone expects that, I guess), going into cardiac arrest for 9 minutes. We were not only lucky he lived but incredibly lucky that he is able to walk, talk, read, write, etc. As we were told not to expect too much if he did pull through. He is, however, a little different now. He went from being the most laid-back, easy-going guy who had “resting smile face,” as my daughter called it, to being pretty tense, anxious, and worried (paranoid)…to the point that I tell him he’s gonna give himself another heart attack if he doesn’t calm down. After 50-some years of smoking in her house, he told my mom she could no longer smoke in there. They compromised on her not smoking after 11 pm…when he would take her ashtray every single night and smoking was done until she woke up the next day. He doesn’t spend much time sleeping at night because he’s up and down making sure everything in and around the house is okay. In the last month or two, he has, literally, slept in his shoes. When I asked him why he did this, he replied, “In case the house starts on fire I can run out.” After the police called me, I wasn’t quite sure how to tell him, so I asked him, “What’s your biggest fear?” He replied, “You dying.” “Okay, second?” “Me dying or one of the girls dying.” “Okay, third, Dad…” “I don’t know, the house burns down.” “That’s the one.” Forever the Green Beret he is, not a word was said, trained probably 60 years ago how to react to horrible situations, he just stepped on the gas (as we were driving home from getting my daughter from school, not having left the house more than 10 minutes or so before the call). I could see and feel the panic hit him, but outwardly he was way calmer than I was. He’s such a protector and provider; it was/is his job to be calm and in control regardless of what was going on in his head and heart. Well, last night I don’t think he slept at all. I don’t know if/when he will ever get a good night’s sleep again. I know my father, and even though he had insurance, because he cannot control the situation, he will not believe everything is going to be okay until 8-12 months from now when we can move back into our home. On the plus side, I told him he’s not allowed to die until this is all over with. There’s not a doubt in my mind that WKR will make sure he’s there to see his house and home be okay…fixed and able to live in. I believe he will be moving back into his home with us, and a week ago I was a little concerned about how much longer I’d have him.

I know this has been a little long, but there’s just so much I want people to know if they’re going to be helping us in any way. Also, it has been kind of like, I don’t know, therapeutic for me to say all of this, to get it out of my head. So, even if it’s for nothing other than being there and taking the time to read this, thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to do so!! It means a lot to me!! Okay, so, I really have no clue what to set the “goal” or whatever for on this. We do have insurance and everything will eventually be okay. But, right now we literally have NOTHING. I wore my slippers to get my daughter from school, I don’t even have a pair of shoes. She has no school clothes. My dad doesn’t have his coffee…that may seem a strange thing for me to say he doesn’t have, but I hope it illustrates how much we literally lost everything. My father doesn’t understand how much things cost nowadays…I do our grocery shopping, and he literally gives me $50 and thinks it covers the $200 worth of groceries I come home with. In his mind, $50-$80 is what it should/should have cost. Last night we had to get him all new meds. Because we had just picked up a week and a half ago, we had to pay out of pocket to get new ones. Super shockingly, they were only $160. I was waiting for them to tell us it was like $800, so that was a good surprise. While at CVS, my daughter needed new makeup for school today, we needed shampoo and conditioner, razors, toothbrushes…well, that came close to $250. My father was shocked to say the least; I was not, but I knew he had no idea. So, long story short, I’m just trying to get something to help us get back some of the stuff we need right now…I mean, between my kid and I, we probably had 20 pairs of Lululemon leggings…I’m not trying to get all that replaced with this or anything; I’m again just trying to illustrate the scope of what we no longer have…for those who don’t know what Lululemon leggings are, we are talking about, around, $2000 worth of stretch pants we owned. We didn’t accumulate them overnight, and I don’t expect to replace them overnight either. I really don’t even care about me, but I know how teenagers are, and those pants are so important to her at this point in her life. I don’t want her to have to go without everything that makes her feel comfortable and confident when she walks into school every day when she may not be able to sleep in her bed for the next year. Christmas is coming up, OMG. I don’t know. I haven’t worked since my mom passed away. I know my dad doesn’t/wouldn’t want me going back to work right now for sure. But, for my dad to walk into Lululemon and have to pay $200 for a couple pairs of pants…then go around the corner and pay $100 for one pair of shoes…then stop at Target and spend $100 for laundry soap, cat food, and tampons…it could possibly give him another heart attack…or will be a big embarrassing fight, in each store, at the very least. So, again, I have no idea what to ask for and will greatly appreciate any help anyone gives us. Every little bit will be a little bit we don’t have to ask for/get from my father at this point in his life, and that would be absolutely amazing!!!

I’m not sure what news station(s) it was on, but several people have seen the story of our home in the news and contacted me. I’m pretty sure the Macomb Daily was there and maybe even the Detroit News/Free Press. I know it was all over the St. Clair Shores Facebook page…if anyone wants to see the story of our house…see pics/video of how unbelievable the devastation that happened in around 10 minutes time is. It’s insane and truly unbelievable. Thank you, thank you, thank you again for just taking the time to read this!! Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to give us!! It truly means so much!!