The tornado that struck Laurel County last Friday evening wrote a tragic new chapter in Paul and Gail Cline’s love story. When the sirens sounded, the elderly couple – he battling dementia, she his constant caregiver – sought shelter in their bedroom and held hands as they always did during storms.
What happened next defies imagination. The EF-4 tornado’s violent winds severed both their arms at the shoulder as they clung to each other, leaving them horrifically injured but still connected. Rescuers found them conscious in the wreckage of their family home, which had stood for generations before being reduced to splinters.
At UK Hospital, Gail fights for life with punctured lungs and catastrophic injuries while Paul, confused by dementia and trauma, repeatedly asks for his wife. Their beloved dog Sadie survived the storm and was found guarding the ruins of their home.
The couple’s nieces describe them as people of deep faith who always supported each other through life’s challenges. Now that faith is being tested as never before. A community fundraising effort has begun to help with their massive medical expenses and eventual prosthetics. Their story of love that refused to let go, even in the face of nature’s fury, has touched hearts across Kentucky.
