Helping Catherine and Matthew Dragonera: Rebuilding After the Fire
Hello, and thank you all for taking the time to read this and consider my plight.
Last month when I should have been getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with my loved ones, I instead came painfully close to losing my baby sister, Catherine, and her husband, Matthew, in a devastating apartment fire. In the early hours of November 23rd, their lives were forever changed as an electrical fire tore through their home, leaving them with nothing but their lives, deep trauma, and profound grief in an instant.
Catherine and Matthew’s apartment and all of their possessions were destroyed. Even more heartbreaking, Bella—a sweet 14-year-old cat who they had rescued while grieving their senior cat Buffy who had passed —did not survive. Catherine had adopted Bella under extraordinary circumstances. While collecting the ashes of her late foster cat, Buffy (who passed at a wonderful 16 years of age), Bella was thrust into her life after being abandoned at the clinic, stuffed in a pillowcase and tossed through the door by a man riding a bicycle. Despite her recent raw grief, Catherine opened her heart again and took Bella home with her. Six months of pampered life with Catherine and Matthew as grieving but healing pet parents to senior cat Bella.
Until losing her in the fire. She had hid herself under their bed and was found after the fire was put out.
After waking her husband,who was asleep and nude in the comfort of their bed, Catherine acted and tossed him off the balcony to the safety of the shrubs below bordering the patio of the ground floor.
Catherine tried to search for Bella,to push back to the bedroom to save her, but the flames and smoke were too much and she knew she would die if she didn't turn back. Catherine suffered burns,smoke inhalation, and cyanide poisoning from the intensely hot electrical fire.
This makes the loss of Bella, as well as Buffy’s ashes, all the more devastating for them.
Catherine threw herself over the railing of the balcony 17 feet to join her husband to safety. Matthew helped her up and despite the chaos and running on adrenaline, Catherine ran back up the steps of their apartment complex to warn their neighbors who were still inside and unaware.
Catherine and Matthew Dragonera are the youngest couple in that building, their neighbors older and either elderly,disabled, or with grandchildren. One neighbor was deaf and if Catherine hadn't almost kicked in her door she wouldn't have known there was a fire.
The apartment only had one fire extinguisher per floor. None of the smoke detectors or alarms went off even when the fire department arrived. No sprinkler system.
If Catherine hadn't woken up in the middle of the night when the blaze started, no one would have survived.
After ensuring her neighbors were out and the fire department arrived to prevent it from spreading further to the entire complex, Catherine and Matthew were rushed to the hospital.
Both Catherine and Matthew suffered burns, scrapes, and lung damage from smoke inhalation. Matthew was naked, wearing only a throw a neighbor provided him. Catherine was wearing only a sleep shirt and she was barefoot.
Both were taken to MedStar Health Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for treatment. Adding insult to injury, the few possessions that survived the fire due to a closed door and managed to salvage were later deemed unsafe due to asbestos contamination in the building, leaving them with nothing.
And their apartment condemed,leaving them effectively homeless and not even with clothes on their backs.
I could have woken up to a double funeral to my baby sister and my brother-in-law. I would have been sitting at a table with my father staring at the vacant seats where they should have been at sharing Thanksgiving dinner but never would again.
Its horrifying and sobering to how close one can come to losing their loved ones My younger sister. My best friend. My rock.
My brother in law. A blessing to bring into my small family. Who completes my sister.
And they stared death in the face and survived, scathed and scratching at ashes.
I’m reaching out to our community to help Catherine and Matthew rebuild their lives after this unimaginable tragedy. To help my family heal and thrive.
They are starting over from scratch. They need help covering:
- **Medical expenses** for their injuries and ongoing treatment. Nether of them can afford to not work and went back to their respective jobs after being released from the hospital to keep on top of their bills and to survive day-to-day.
- **Temporary housing** while they search for a new place to live. The apartment has been condemned due to the fire and the asbestos that was found.
- **Essential items** to replace what was lost. Catherine and Matthew lost everything save for their cars and their lives--they had to get keys remade for each vehicle, important documents such as identification and passports, and even clothing.
- **Counseling and support** as they process the trauma of this event and the heartbreaking loss of Bella. My sister is the most stalwart and steadfast person I know and I'm proud to be her sibling. But she is shaken and defeated from this devastation and loss.
She's heartbroken to lose her home she built with her husband. Lost the ashes of Buffy and then Bella so close to giving her a forever home. The plants she nurtured from cuttings she obtained from our beloved late aunt, who she had traveled to North Carolina after her terminal pancreatic cancer claimed her and laid her to rest, the last keepsake she had gone in the blaze.
I wish I could provide them with a safe haven myself, but I’m currently living in a gutted house undergoing renovations and am unable to offer them a place to stay. I live on a dilapidated farm caring for our elderly father who has survived two bouts of cancer (prostate and jaw) without heat and no kitchen or bedrooms. I myself sleep on the floor on an air mattress.
I can rough it. I cannot allow my sister and brother in law to suffer while trying to recover and gain their footing after having their lives upended.
This leaves me with no choice but to ask for help from kind-hearted individuals like you.
Catherine and Matthew have always been the first to lend a hand to others in need to the best of their ability and means. I need the generosity and hospitality of strangers,friends, and few living family to help them. Every dollar raised will go directly toward helping them recover, heal, and rebuild their lives.
Thank you for taking the time to read their story. If you’re unable to donate, sharing this fundraiser with others would mean the world to us. Together, we can help Catherine and Matthew Dragonera find stability and hope after this tragedy.
Again,I tank you for your time and consideration. God bless and be safe.
With gratitude and love,
Edith Terah Watson
