When the tornado warning sounded in Laurel County last Friday evening, Paul and Gail Cline did what they’d always done during life’s storms – they held hands and prayed. The elderly couple, married for decades and facing Paul’s dementia diagnosis, had weathered many challenges together. But nothing could have prepared them for what came next.
As the EF-4 tornado tore through their century-old family home around 7:13 pm, the couple clung to each other with all their strength. The violent winds proved stronger than human flesh – ripping both their arms from their bodies while they remained locked together. Neighbors found them conscious but horrifically injured amid the rubble, still physically connected though each had lost an arm.
First responders rushed the couple to UK Hospital where Gail remains in a medically induced coma with punctured lungs and multiple injuries. Paul, confused from trauma and dementia, keeps asking for his wife, unaware of his own catastrophic injury. Their 12-year-old dog Sadie was miraculously found alive the next day, sleeping on the remains of their mattress.
The community has rallied around the couple, establishing a GoFundMe for medical expenses and prosthetics. As their niece shared, “They held on through the worst storm imaginable – that’s who they are.” Though their home and possessions are gone, the bond that kept them together through the tornado remains unbroken.
