October 16, 2018. Breakfast Point Academy Red Cross operated shelter. Panama City Beach, Florida

DONNA HAYES AND RED CROSS WORKER JON AXELL

Shelter resident Donna Hayes recounts the harrowing events of the last few days to Red Cross worker Jon Axell. She turned 56 the day Hurricane Michael reached Panama City. “I heard the tornadoes. I wrote my last name on my arm and I began to pray. I heard the roof rumbling. I’ll never forget that sound.”

Donna, who has undergone several surgeries that require her to breathe through an oxygen concentrator, was staying at a shelter at Rutherford High School when the generator at that location failed. As transportation was being arranged to move residents to the newly opened Red Cross Shelter at Breakfast Point Academy, the battery on her oxygen concentrator ran out of power.

She was brought to a police vehicle to charge the battery using her car adaptor, but that also failed. She was running out of time.

Red Cross worker Chuck Parker was notified of the situation. He had a truck with a 110-volt socket and didn’t hesitate to rush Donna inside, plug in her oxygen concentrator, and turn on the air conditioning.

“He saved my life.”

When she was asked by another resident to describe her experience in one word, she chose “rejoiceful.” She had just learned how to call her family using a messenger app on her phone over the shelter’s Wi-Fi and had seen her granddaughter’s face for the first time since the devastating hurricane. She has a cot near an outlet to charge her concentrator and frequently sits outside in the shade to talk with other residents and Red Cross shelter volunteers.

“People take air for granted.”
Photo by Daniel Cima/American Red Cross