GAYLORD, Mich. – One of the survivors of the Gaylord tornado is back in the community and sharing his story of when life as he knew it changed in an instant.
The damage from the tornado in May devastated the Gaylord community. It killed two people, left more than 40 injured, destroyed homes and damaged businesses.
A mobile home park was one of the areas that were hardest hit when the powerful EF-3 tornado rolled through Gaylord. Dave Boughner and his family called that mobile home park home for more than a decade.
Read: ‘Gaylord gone. Tornado’: Intense video shows how powerful EF-3 tornado was
Boughner said the tornado appeared to come out of nowhere. One minute, Boughner and his son were home, getting ready to meet friends for a bonfire and the next they heard a loud sound.
“Just a loud train sound, like it was coming through my house. That’s what it sounded like,” Boughner said. “Didn’t know what was going on.”
He told his youngest son to brace himself. Seconds later, a massive oak tree from the front yard fell directly on top of their home. Boughner said that’s when everything around him went dark.
“I didn’t really feel a lot of pain. When my son found me, my youngest son, because he actually walked away with just bumps and scrapes and a couple glass shards. When he found me I was actually able to holler for help and I don’t know how I was able to holler for help with a collapsed lung. I didn’t feel anything. I knew I couldn’t feel my legs. And I had to tell my son not to move nothing because I couldn’t feel my legs,” Boughner said.
Boughner was trapped beneath two walls. He was thinking about his family while he was trapped there. The storm had leveled his house, reducing it to rubble. An ambulance came and rushed Boughner to the nearest hospital, which was about 45 minutes away.
He spent several weeks in the hospital and had to come off a ventilator before he was really aware of what happened. He said the first doctor that talked to him told him he had a one in 50 chance of walking again. He wasn’t able to talk, so he wrote down what he wanted to say.
His doctors said he had a spinal cord injury, broken ribs, and a lot of breathing issues. He couldn’t walk, talk, or breathe on his own. The spinal cord injury impacted his mobility from below where he was injured.
With the help of a team of doctors, therapists, and his family, Boughner spent three months re-learning the basic things. He took small steps toward regaining his independence. Doctors said, for now, it’s still too early to tell how long he will be in a wheelchair.
Boughner, like many others, will continue to heal, recover and rebuild their lives one step at a time.
Click here to view a GoFundMe page for the family.