Family grateful for opportunity to run

If Frank Holderfield and his wife, Brenda, decide to toe the starting line in Saturday's Senior Bowl Charity Run, they'll be counting their blessings.

On May 11, the Holderfields lost their house to a fire that started when it was struck by lightning.

They lost virtually everything in the house, but it could have been worse — their daughter Paige and dogs Cosmo and Foxie managed to get out in time.

For the Holderfields, the fact that they are rebuilding and starting over, thanks to help from friends, strangers, co-workers and Paige's UMS-Wright classmates, trumps the losses they incurred.

On the afternoon of May 11, Paige, a track and field athlete at UMS-Wright, was home studying for final exams.

"Paige was studying physics," Frank Holderfield recalled. "It was the first time she had been home that time of day for quite some time."

At 3:51 p.m., lightning struck the Holderfields' garage.

"Paige was working on her computer in her room, and Foxie happened to be with her at the time," Frank said. "When the lightning struck the garage, Paige got zapped. She smelled smoke and the cable went out, but the power stayed on. Foxie was fussing and barking, and Paige went to see what was going on."

Paige went near the garage door but did not open it. Instead, she called her father at work.

"She thought it was a little fire, but I told her to get out of the house," he said. "When she went back to get the dogs, a neighbor told her there were flames on the roof."

CONTINUED 1 | 2 Next