Washington’s family lost their home in a wildfire, after which everything tested positive for COVID-19

Malden, wash. — Many say 2020 has been hit one after another, and one local family is familiar with it.Immediately after losing everything in Bab Road Fire In eastern Washington, all seven families tested positive for COVID-19. Now they are trying to pick up the fragments while fighting the virus.

“It was really windy that day, so when Matthew left,’I can’t stop what the wind is like, so I hope there’s no fire today,'” said Jessica Graham. I did.

It was Labor Day when her husband, Matthew Graham, had a certain premonition when his wife and five children drove to his brother’s house. There was a fire before the end of the afternoon and I was greedy.

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“It’s just surreal, it’s like being in a bad dream, you’re right, this can’t be a reality,” Jessica said.

In the end, the fire destroyed most of their small town, Malden. All that was owned except their home, barn, and back clothing was burnt rubble.

“I was more shocked than I had imagined. I felt numb for the first few days,” Jessica said.

He told his five children that he knew that his house was gone, and that it was heartbreaking, especially when he saw one of his daughters struggling to handle the news.

“How does the home body deal with the lack of a home anymore? That was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Seeing my kid suffering so much, I can’t do anything about it “Matthew said.

At this point, things seemed dark, but they were getting worse.

“Before our house burned down, we weren’t in a group of people and were really careful to keep our kids in face masks and stay away from everyone,” Matthew said. It was.

But after losing everything, they needed a place to stay. And there was the emotional comfort they urgently needed.

“I feel like you really want to be around others, because that’s all you really left at the time you lost everything,” Jessica said. ..

So they were a little less alert and spent time with their families right after the fire. Shortly thereafter, Matthew began to feel sick. Initially, they attributed it to heavy smoke, but when it cleared up, his symptoms weren’t.

“The nurse asked me if there were all of us with the same surname who took the test, and I told her so, and she said they were all positive.” Matthew said.

All seven families tested positive for the virus. Fortunately, the children showed mild symptoms, but it was a different story for Matthew and Jessica.

“It’s like hitting a brick wall with this overwhelming fatigue,” Jessica said.

“I don’t feel so good right now, but I can get up all day, which is a big improvement because I was so tired that I couldn’t raise my head for a long time,” Matthew said.

As the family enters the second week of quarantine, when the hotel room is packed, we can’t help but think about how it looks when it rains.

“I don’t know if that will get worse. At this point, nothing surprises me,” Matthew said.

They said it was certainly the most difficult year of their life, but they also said the struggle was temporary.

“This year will be the year we look back, and we will probably be very strong people for it,” Matthew said.

What’s lost is nothing compared to what they still have-each other.

“At least for us, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and we just need to get there, not everyone has it, so we should thank the kids “The light at the end of their tunnel,” Matthew said.

Graham said he was very fortunate to have fire insurance and plans to start looking for a home as soon as he recovers from COVID-19. If you want to help them gofundme Created to help the financial loss of their grace.