Help Rachelle and Baby Lincoln
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My heart breaks for my best friend, Rachelle Zuccolillo-Sanders (formerly Page), who just lost everything the day after giving birth to a 3 week early baby boy, Lincoln Christopher Sanders, at Feather River Hospital in Paradise, CA. The hospital caught fire, she & her husband, Chris, lost their home, and their entire town of Paradise burned to the ground yesterday, 11/8/18. Hospital staff placed Rachelle and baby Lincoln in whatever stranger’s car with room they could find, wearing just a hospital gown, baby on her lap she placed her hospital mask over his face in the midst of thick smoke. They were evacuated to Enloe Hospital in Chico, CA, driven by a hospital engineer through flames and smoke, as people abandoned their vehicles in blocked traffic to run for their lives.
I can’t imagine what that would be like to go through. I picture a baseball themed room, how she felt she had everything almost ready for him, baby shower gifts freshly unpacked...and then to lose her home, town, baby supplies... in just a few hours, as the fire burned 6 football fields a minute. They are lucky to be alive. Not everyone made it out, some dying in their cars.
Touching words from her heartbroken father, Keven Page:
“My Daughter called me yesterday panic stricken and in the backseat of a strangers car with only a hospital gown on, pillows and a (three week premature) baby on her lap in the backseat of a car driven by a stranger.
The night before at feather river hospital she gave birth to my grandson after a C-section. She was well and the baby was doing fine pictures of the little guy and a proud father.
At 10:30 on a Thursday I got the call.. she started with “daddy I need to hear your voice there’s fire all around the windows are hot traffic has stopped and people are getting out of the cars and running for their lives. I can’t run I can’t run!!!! The stranger just got out and I am alone...........
I’m in the backseat of a strangers car I have a hospital gown on, and three pillows with a baby on my lap. The smoke is so bad I took the mask they gave me and put it over the babies mouth what do I do what do I do”?
In my strongest most calming voice I could muster I told her I’ll start praying take a pillow and put it up against the window where the heat is getting to hot for you do your best to slow your breathing put your gown over your mouth. I love you baby and I will pray for your safety. “Dad the stranger came back”.
The phone went dead I prayed for the best, I thought of the worst, I begged ,I pleaded, I felt helpless, hopeless and as any father does, no matter the age of their child, I felt it my duty to protect her and my grandson. And it all was completely out of my hands.
I called my wife and described the fire on both sides as it had been described to me. The burning pine needles swirling in the air, the car’s that had caught fire. How the road was so dark and the smoke was so thick you could hardly see out of the car. Rachelle and our new grandson stuck in the backseat of an inferno. I said pray and call everyone you know to pray and then we waited.
We waited most of the day. Finally the call came, “Daddy we are being directed by emergency personnel at clear creek crossing”.
Thank God,,, I love you call me when you get to the hospital and they have checked you in. I want to know more.... Who was this stranger???
The fire had moved so fast the hospital was putting people into any car they could find to get them out. Who was this stranger who did not leave my daughter and grandson behind??? Who got out of the car to access the situation, but did not run like the others to save himself????
Several more hours went by until the text came “all 3 of us are in a room at ENLOE mom and baby are doing fine.... “
I spoke to my daughter briefly and asked did she find out who the stranger was who took her to safety??? “Yes Dad but all I know about him is he was an engineer for the feather River Hospital”. Sir I do not know you and even though the house is gone, and all of her possessions, You gave us the one thing that can’t be replaced my Daughter, and that precious little Grandson.........
Thank you Jesus for making away for them when there was no way!!!”
I can’t imagine what that would be like to go through. I picture a baseball themed room, how she felt she had everything almost ready for him, baby shower gifts freshly unpacked...and then to lose her home, town, baby supplies... in just a few hours, as the fire burned 6 football fields a minute. They are lucky to be alive. Not everyone made it out, some dying in their cars.
Touching words from her heartbroken father, Keven Page:
“My Daughter called me yesterday panic stricken and in the backseat of a strangers car with only a hospital gown on, pillows and a (three week premature) baby on her lap in the backseat of a car driven by a stranger.
The night before at feather river hospital she gave birth to my grandson after a C-section. She was well and the baby was doing fine pictures of the little guy and a proud father.
At 10:30 on a Thursday I got the call.. she started with “daddy I need to hear your voice there’s fire all around the windows are hot traffic has stopped and people are getting out of the cars and running for their lives. I can’t run I can’t run!!!! The stranger just got out and I am alone...........
I’m in the backseat of a strangers car I have a hospital gown on, and three pillows with a baby on my lap. The smoke is so bad I took the mask they gave me and put it over the babies mouth what do I do what do I do”?
In my strongest most calming voice I could muster I told her I’ll start praying take a pillow and put it up against the window where the heat is getting to hot for you do your best to slow your breathing put your gown over your mouth. I love you baby and I will pray for your safety. “Dad the stranger came back”.
The phone went dead I prayed for the best, I thought of the worst, I begged ,I pleaded, I felt helpless, hopeless and as any father does, no matter the age of their child, I felt it my duty to protect her and my grandson. And it all was completely out of my hands.
I called my wife and described the fire on both sides as it had been described to me. The burning pine needles swirling in the air, the car’s that had caught fire. How the road was so dark and the smoke was so thick you could hardly see out of the car. Rachelle and our new grandson stuck in the backseat of an inferno. I said pray and call everyone you know to pray and then we waited.
We waited most of the day. Finally the call came, “Daddy we are being directed by emergency personnel at clear creek crossing”.
Thank God,,, I love you call me when you get to the hospital and they have checked you in. I want to know more.... Who was this stranger???
The fire had moved so fast the hospital was putting people into any car they could find to get them out. Who was this stranger who did not leave my daughter and grandson behind??? Who got out of the car to access the situation, but did not run like the others to save himself????
Several more hours went by until the text came “all 3 of us are in a room at ENLOE mom and baby are doing fine.... “
I spoke to my daughter briefly and asked did she find out who the stranger was who took her to safety??? “Yes Dad but all I know about him is he was an engineer for the feather River Hospital”. Sir I do not know you and even though the house is gone, and all of her possessions, You gave us the one thing that can’t be replaced my Daughter, and that precious little Grandson.........
Thank you Jesus for making away for them when there was no way!!!”
Organizer and beneficiary
Lisa Daniele
Organizer
Fresno, CA
Rachelle Zuccolillo
Beneficiary