Video: Columbus Family Recounts Story of Survival During and After Apartment Fire

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – We continue our survivor’s story of a Columbus family saved in a during a tragic apartment building fire. Six months later, they are sharing their story with WCBI’s RH Brown.

Part two begins with two members of the family being taken to the hospital.

This week Columbus resident Shalonda Conner and her family took some time to think about their rescue that they attribute to Divine Intervention and the ability of first responders at Fire Station One.

” Well they tried to pull me out, took a while for them to get me out. And they had to toss me because they couldn’t come in. They had to toss me to somebody waiting down below. I was wondering why I was so sore in the hospital. I had like a cracked rib,but yeah, that’s why.”

Six months later cleanup is taking place at Jamestown Apartments. Shalonda Conner and her three children were rescued that October day. But Conner and one of her daughters were unconscious. And that was not good.

Conner’s daughter Deja, 14 at the time was taken to Memphis, her mother to a Jackson hospital.

“They flew her to Lebonhuer. She stayed, we both were intubated for about a week. They extubated us at the same time, the same day actually. And we both woke up just fine. Well later on that Friday, they said she was talking and everything was fine but then she became lethargic and she didn’t have control of her muscles and then she went to sleep. Out of the blue and she didn’t wake up.”
Deja Jones “Like I could hear stuff going on. I didn’t know what was going on but I could hear. And I knew what was going on but I couldn’t hear. And I was sort of conscious you know. I knew that I was, something was going on but I didn’t know what.”

Deja was in a coma, and the medical prognosis not good. There were signs of brain damage.

“They didn’t think that I would recover at all you know. They thought I was just going to stay a vegetable. I might be able to you know be taken home and have a wheel chair and all that. But once my mom came in and I opened my eyes, that was the start of everything. I started progressing extremely fast.”

“We believe in a higher power than what a man can say.”

“Three weeks later, I was released and I was home for my high school band’s last home game.”

Conner and her family thanked the first responders that saved their lives during a recent Columbus City Council Meeting.