By Kaitlyn Connolly, American Red Cross 

At 6 a.m. on a stormy September morning, Donna Johns was following the same routine she always had.

Hurricane Helene was battering western North Carolina, but inside the family's mountain home, life carried on as normally as possible.

"We got up early because we were in a routine for getting up early for school," Donna said. "Just because there was a storm doesn't mean the kids don't have to get ready for school."

Her 11-year-old grandson, Jamie, and his sister, Gemma, were awake and getting ready for the day. As the weather worsened outside, the children became restless.

"They were getting rowdy," Donna recalled. "I said, 'Will you calm down, sit down and watch TV?'"

Donna settled into a chair near the dining area while the children watched television. The sky remained unusually dark as storm clouds blocked the morning light.

Then, without warning, everything started moving.

"I felt the house shake," Donna said. "I looked around and saw the refrigerator moving toward me."

The next few seconds felt impossible to comprehend.

"The only thing I could think was, 'Help,'" she said. "I looked up and said help, and then poof, it was done."

One moment she was sitting in her dining room. The next, she was outside in the middle of a raging storm.

"I looked around, and there's no walls there anymore," she said. "I can't see my family."

A mudslide triggered by Hurricane Helene ripped the two-story house apart and sent it tumbling down the hillside. Heavy equipment from the attic crashed through the home as lumber, walls and furniture were scattered across a mountain of rubble.

Donna's leg was trapped beneath debris, but she managed to pull herself free and crawl across the wreckage. Eventually, she reunited with her husband, Michael, granddaughter Gemma and the family's dog, Tucker.

But Jamie was missing.

Buried beneath an estimated 12 feet of rubble, Jamie was trapped. Later, he told his grandmother that he couldn't see sunlight. Water dripped onto him as debris pinned him in place. In the darkness, he feared he might drown, run out of air or never see his family again.

Above him, however, Tucker refused to leave.

The family had adopted Tucker from a shelter three years earlier after Jamie and Gemma used their allowance money to bring him home. Now, as rescuers searched the devastation, Tucker stood on top of the debris pile and barked relentlessly.

Donna remembers waiting at a neighbor's house while emergency crews worked through dangerous conditions.

"We could hear trees cracking in the wind," she said.

Meanwhile, Tucker continued barking.

"Michael said it was annoying initially," Donna recalled. "They didn't know what he was carrying on about. They should have thought that dog was trying to tell them something."

Eventually, rescuers realized Tucker wasn't barking randomly. He was standing directly over Jamie.

Firefighters moved to the spot Tucker had marked and began cutting through the wreckage.

A sofa had helped shield Jamie from some of the crushing weight around him. Debris and a ceiling fan caused injuries, but he survived.

"He was pretty beat up," Donna said. "He looked rough."

But he was alive.

The family lost their home and nearly all of their possessions in the disaster. Yet amid the devastation, they were grateful for what remained: each other.

Today, Jamie's story is no longer defined by what was lost, but by how far he and his family have come.

As Jamie recovered in the hospital, support began pouring in from across the community. Sheila Crunkleton, executive director of the American Red Southern Piedmont Chapter, heard about the family's experience and visited Jamie during his recovery. The family also received Red Cross assistance as they began navigating the difficult days after the disaster.

What began as a hospital visit became a lasting connection. Crunkleton has remained in touch with the family as they worked through the long process of recovery and rebuilding.

Recently, with support from community partners, including Habitat for Humanity, Jamie and his family reached a milestone they once only hoped for: moving into a new home.

For a family that survived one of Hurricane Helene's most devastating moments, the new house represents far more than walls and a roof. It is a symbol of resilience, hope and the power of community. As for Jamie, one of the first additions to his new room was a dog bed for Tucker — the dog who never left his side when he needed him most.