Mom struggles to provide for family of 14 following Beachwood fire

BEACHWOOD, Ohio - Patricia Gaines lost all of her worldly possessions in a fire at her Beachwood home late Wednesday night.

“I only got out with my night gown,” she said.

But she’s very thankful her family, all fourteen of them, made it out alive.

“No one was hurt, I even got my dog out with me,” she said smiling.

Daisy, her dog, sat on the floor of her son’s Cleveland Heights home. Their temporary home until the Red Cross can help her find a new place to live.

The escape from the second floor fire was not an easy one as five of her children have special needs. Four family members went to the emergency room, not for injuries, but for special medication lost in the fire.

Gaines saw a light coming from her closet around 11 p.m. Wednesday evening. She opened it to find fire shooting from an attached closet.

Fire departments from Beachwood, Pepper Pike, Lyndhurst and University Heights responded. The home sustained major damage to its second floor. It remains under investigation.

In the living room they now call home, Damond sat on his mom’s lap, smiling as his mother talked of the panic she experienced Wednesday evening.

“My biggest concern was getting them out of the house.”

As she motioned toward Damond and then another of her sons, she talked of the difficulties trying to rebuild their lives and the special equipment, like beds, she’ll need to replace.

Damond breathes through a tube in his throat and must be fed through a tube in his abdomen.

“When you feed him by tube, he has to sleep in a 45 degree angle and my son over there can’t raise himself up in the wheelchair,” she said.

Back on Edgewood Road in Beachwood, neighbors bring donations of toys and clothes to garage of Ariane and Danny Kirkwood.

Ariane set up the Patricia Gaines Family Fund at Key Bank and has opened her home at 2550 Edgewood for donations.

The Beachwood Community PTO will collect items that the family has identified that they need during a special drop-off time on Friday, Sept. 14, 3-5 p.m., at Fairmount School 24601 Fairmount Blvd. in Beachwood.

Community members may donate the following items:

• gift cards for grocery stores, Target, Walmart, etc.
• cash or check donations (made payable to Beachwood Community PTO) 
• food or grocery items
• jogging pants and sweatsuits: adult large
• shirts: youth size 6, 10 and 16; adult large
• pants: size 30-32
• no shoes please

Donations will be accepted at any Beachwood school starting Tuesday.