Miracle Man

“I leaned over, held her tight, and looped my finger through her collar as I whispered, that’s us Hanna, it’s here.” 

Those were the last words Raymond Claypool remembers uttering to his beloved K9 Hanna, a 6-year-old rescue dog, before the tornado struck his Cambridge Shores home the night of Friday, December 10. 

Claypool says, like many others, he knew severe storms were approaching and had been keeping an eye on the forecast. Having just recently purchased new roofing, windows, and soffit materials, which had been delivered just a few days before, he says he was determined to ensure they weren’t damaged and had even put quite a bit of effort into covering, securing, and staking a cover over them earlier that day.  
 
“I knew bad weather was coming, but let’s be honest, you never really think it will hit you,” he says with eyebrows raised and a shrug of his shoulders.  

“I was getting ready to go to bed, and I remember the power had gone out. I was standing there in the hallway with my phone in my hands, trying to watch the weather updates. Hanna kept coming out into the hallway, bumping me on the leg with her nose, and then she would go right back to the bathroom like she wanted me to follow.”  
 
After having done this multiple times and seeming relentless in her desire to get her dad to join her in the bathroom, Claypool conceded. “I was like, geez, come on Hanna,” he says, chuckling as he reminisces of the miracle it was. “I thought I would just go in the bathroom and try to comfort her, so I placed the lid down on the commode and took a seat. I remember sitting my phone down on the sink next to me, and I reached down to embrace her when I heard them say the tornado was approaching Cambridge Shores.”  
 
“I must have been knocked out,” he recalls, “because when I opened my eyes, we were sitting outside of my house exactly like we had been inside but facing the opposite way.”  
Pelting rain and debris were swirling around the two as he struggled to regain his orientation. “We were outside in the middle of the tornado, and I was just holding onto Hanna telling her we couldn’t move – not yet.” The two were wedged against a portion of the remaining foundation – “I knew it was the only thing keeping the wind from carrying us off.”  

In intense reflection, as if he were in that very moment once again, he said, “All I can think is that God picked us up and sat us down and said, you are going to be alright.” 
 
When the pouring rain and swirling winds began to subside, Claypool says he realized everything was gone.“ I looked around, and there was nothing – no bathroom, no kitchen, no ceiling, no walls – there was nothing left.” 

Slowly he emerged from the debris, having only sweatpants and a t-shirt on. Managing to escape with scratches and bruises, he and Hanna moved from their location and began to seek help. 

“I was shouting toward a neighbor’s house, but no one answered,” he recalls saying he continued onward down his street calling out for help, but he still received no response.  
 
He began the journey on through his neighborhood, seeing the storm-ravaged landscape, traversing downed power lines, glass, and debris barefoot. “I knew I needed to get to the fire station,” he says, but the fire station was more than a quarter of a mile away, and the roads were mostly impassable.  

Somehow, he says, “By the grace of God, we managed to make it to the fire station.” 
But upon arrival, he found that the station had been heavily damaged. Claypool said while it was dark, he could see that first responders were already on site. “They saw me coming and told me to stop where I was – they said there were downed power lines, glass, and debris everywhere, and they could see I was barefoot,” he recalls.  

Claypool was given a windbreaker and a pair of fire boots, and firefighters worked to fashion a leash for Hanna using a rope they were able to salvage.  
 
With no phone, no wallet, no dry clothing – Claypool said he recalls feeling the weight and gravity of the situation upon him. “I felt absolutely helpless.”  

Thankful for the kindness of strangers, help arrived for another family who had taken refuge at the station, and they took him and Hanna along with them to safety. 
 
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Claypool said. “They took us with them, gave me some clean clothes and tennis shoes, and gave us a place to sleep.” 

Thanks to Facebook messenger, Claypool was able to access social media and reach out to his daughter to let her know what had happened. “It was around a quarter to six in the morning when I heard the call come in through Messenger,” Lisa O’Connor says. “It was my dad, and he said, ‘everything is gone, it’s all gone.’” O’Connor recalls the shock in the notification – “We live in Plainfield, IL, and I didn’t even realize storms had hit his area. I just remember bawling my eyes out, running upstairs in my pajamas, grabbing my bags, and telling my husband I was headed to Kentucky.” 
 
This is one call O’Connor says she never expected. Just three months earlier, she was moving her dad into his new home in Cambridge Shores – an area so familiar to their family as they had vacationed near Moors most every year since she was a child. “This house was his dream. My dad lived with us in Plainfield the past 4.5 years, saving up to make his dream come true.” O’Connor said her dad had just closed on his house and moved in over the Labor Day holiday.  
 
With her husband and children in tow, O’Connor arrived within a few hours and began working on picking up the pieces for her father – her son securing a hotel in Kuttawa that would accommodate the family and their three collective dogs, including Hanna.  

With so many families displaced, the family says it was nothing short of a miracle that they found a pet-friendly place to stay that understands pets are a part of their family too.  
As the morning continued to unfold and they had an opportunity to reflect on the events that had transpired – it became apparent that ‘Hanna the rescue dog’ had, by all accounts, returned the favor and rescued her dad. 

“I have no doubt she saved my life,” Claypool says of his beloved companion. When asked about how exactly this little rescue made her way into his life – his daughter says it was quite the miracle in and of itself. 
 
“My husband and I had already decided we were not getting any pets, but I was bar-tending at a fundraising event for the pet rescue where Hanna was staying,” O’Connor recalls. “She (Hanna) was the only dog brought into the event that night, and out of 150 people there, she would not leave me alone – I guess you could say she picked me. I remember they had to take her out of there crying that night and I recall telling my husband – well, I guess we now have a dog.” 
 
It wasn’t long after that O’Connor says her dad came to live at her home, and while he had given her a fair amount of grief over not ‘needing any pets,’ he soon realized Hanna was no ordinary dog.  

“I remember him telling me that she was the best dog ever, and then basically, he stole her from me,” she said with a chuckle smiling at her father across the table.  

But now crediting this sweet rescue pup with saving her dad’s life, O’Connor seems more than OK with the exchange. “I can’t believe we made it out of there alive when you really think about it,” Claypool said. “If it had not been for Hanna insisting that I go into the bathroom, I would have gone to bed. If we were in a different spot in the house, we would not be here now. I am kind of stubborn; if she would have not poked me multiple times – we would not be here. I know she saved our lives.” 
 
Looking at the piles of scattered debris lying where his home once stood, it is easy to see how this one decision could have led to a very different outcome. “They found my boat more than a half-mile away in the woods,” he says of the strength of the storm that devastated his neighborhood. “We were able to salvage a couple of pots and pans and my false teeth,” which he notes they were very excited about! “That would have been one of those things that was not easy to replace, so it’s really another miracle really that we even found them.” 
 
So how was it that Hanna, the rescue dog knew to lead her dad to safety in the bathroom? 
O’Connor says the answer is likely simple – “she knows the drill…literally!” 
Hanna’s former home where she lived with O’Connor and Claypool happens to be in Plainfield, which was devastated by an F5 tornado in 1990, killing 29 people.  

“When the weather sirens go off, our family knows we immediately take shelter in the bathroom,” O’Connor said. “Hanna heard the sirens continuing to go off, and I believe she knew she and her dad needed to head for safety and that, to her, is in the bathroom.” 
 
Now more than a month out, Claypool is living in a rental home and is already looking toward the future. When asked if he plans to rebuild, he answers immediately, confirming he plans to do just that, adding that this go-around, he will be adding a storm shelter to the property for him and Hanna.  
 
Rather than focusing on the loss, this family seems to be focusing on the positives and being thankful for all the things gained in the wake of the tragedy. 
 
O’Connor’s face lights up when she talks about the family who took her dad and Hanna in the night of the storms providing warm clothing and a place to sleep, the volunteers who worked at the supply distribution centers who shopped with them and loaded up their cars with needed supplies – even delivering some when their vehicles were full. 
 
She tells of the real estate agent who had sold her dad his home, reaching out to say she had found a rental and then delivering the keys. Then there was the group out at Moors Resort who prepared meals for a storm-ravaged community and opened their doors to all in need.  
 
She reflects on cleanup crews in the community who offered another set of resources the family now says they are so grateful for, including a chance meeting with one volunteer working at a neighbor’s house who happened to be Hank Lyon from the Marshall County Elks Lodge.  

“I remember him telling me to come to the old library location to get supplies, but I didn’t want to take anything that someone else may need,” Claypool said. “Hank said to me – this is FOR YOU, these donations were given for families LIKE YOURS – you have lost everything, and we are here to help, this is what we are here for.” 
 
With some prodding required, Claypool has visited the Elks distribution site many times since that conversation but volunteers there say he gives more than he ever takes. He is always greeted with handshakes, hugs, and offers of assistance when he walks through the doors.  

Lyon often helps to shop for Claypool personally, a sign that through this struggle, a new friendship has been born.  
 
“I like to call him my ‘Miracle Man,” says distribution site volunteer Sally Barclay. “I call him that because every time I see him, I am reminded of what a miracle he and Hanna really are.”   

Seeing the silver lining on all of the clouds O’Connor says proudly, “I like to say that through this storm, my dad has definitely found his people. I mean, he knew a few of his neighbors here before but this has brought so many new people into his life and they are more than friends now, they are his family. I guess it’s like they say, out of tragedy comes many blessings.”