
HOUSE EXPLOSION
Donation protected




Hi, my name is Krystle. On March 25th I received a devastating call from my mother that their house exploded due to an oxygen concentrator exploding in their home. Pulling up to their home two minutes later I saw the ambulance driving away with my father and my mother sitting outside her home watching the black smoke billowing out of her home in pure disbelief of what just happened...
My amazing father hasn't had the greatest luck with his health since retiring in Cape Coral, FL in 2012. He went from being an able body "living the dream" to finding out that his right foot had to be amputated overnight. He faced that obstacle head on and within a few days his life forever changed. Within a few days at his follow up appointment the surgeon explained to my father that his vascular disease was so severe the amputation was not healing and now required a below the knee amputation. I wish I could say that was the end to that nightmare but over the next four months my father underwent an above the knee amputation and revisional surgery which resulted in my father losing his entire right leg.
Even going through all of that my father fought to keep his independence, never asking for help as he never wants to feel like a burden to anyone. Unfortunately, just a year later he was diagnosed with Burger's disease which required him to have two digits amputated and lives with daily excruciating pain in his remaining fingers. Even with those health issues my father refused to give up, finding new hobbies to keep him busy and finding new ways to get through each day and what it may bring.
How our nightmare began. One March 19th my father was taken to the hospital in acute respiratory failure. After a week admission it was decided my father was stable enough to come home but he would now have to be on oxygen. Within 24 hours of having the unit in the home the explosion happened. He was doing his normal morning routine like every other day. The only difference this day was he was on oxygen. Not ever thinking he plugged his phone in to charge while surfing the web, checking emails and responding to me. The phone overheated, caught fire and the long oxygen hose was like a wick on a stick of dynamite all the way to the back bedroom where it attached to the oxygen concentrator.
My parents are now without a home. My father who already has had so many obstacles is now trying once again to pick up the pieces that he has to work with. I know this explosion has completely destroyed not only his spirit but with his physical limitations being displaced like this he feels like a burden to my sister and I. No matter how much we tell him otherwise. I want to lessen this burden in any way I can. My father is the strongest man I've even known, and he deserves a break but just can't seem to catch one.
Fundraising team (2)

Krystle Kemp
Organizer
Cape Coral, FL
Shannon Korzeniewski
Team member