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Fundraiser Planned for Burn Victim
04/08/09 - 05:13 PM
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A Bay County business organizes a fundraiser for a girl who received third degree burns over most of her body when her home caught fire.

And the organizer had never even met her… Or her family.

You might remember 10-year-old Reina Smith. She was pulled from her burning home by Bay County Sheriff’s Deputy Robbie Claytor in January. She survived, but not without a mound of medical bills and years of recovery.

“That night I went to bed as any normal night,” Reina remembers. But a normal January night turned into a nightmare when her family’s home caught fire.

“I woke up screaming Daddy, Daddy fire,” she says. “My dad ran around the house, he took a piece of firewood and threw it at the window, the deputy showed up after my dad dragged me to the window, he picked me up and got me out of the window.”

All of Reina’s family was saved from the fire but Reina suffered life-threatening third degree burns over most of her body. She was flown to Birmingham where doctors struggled to keep her alive.

“They didn’t know if I was going to be able to walk again.”

Today, Reina is walking, but every day is a struggle. She has to wear a pressure body suit 23 hours a day for the next two years, and her time with the suit on seems like a relief compared to when it’s off.

“I take a bath… oh that hurts,” she says, “Then a scar massage, where they have to massage all my scars… oh that’s not good.”

Her mother, Kathy, says she’s in constant pain every day.

“She’s a tough little girl, she’s an amazing little girl,” Kathy says. “She surprises me every day.”

A few weeks ago, the Smith’s were surprised to hear that Marshall McClanahan with Freedom Sports, someone they didn’t even know, was organizing a fundraiser for Reina.

“Their neighbor is a good friend of mine and she came in here and was explaining to me what happened,” McClanahan explains, “And she didn’t know what they could do, and I said, well I know what we could do, we could have a five k run.”

“It’s just another, someone, another person in this town saying basically here’s my heart, I want to do something,” Kathy says.

“I know there’s a lot of bad things in the world now,” Reina says, “But all these people, there’s so many good ones too.”

Raina will be at the fundraiser this weekend because she says she wants to personally thank everyone there for their support.

The Walk/Run is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. this Saturday, April 11th. It will be held at Pier Park. Registration is $20, and that goes to help Reina’s family with her medical bills.

You can either pre-register at Freedom Sports on Thomas Drive, or just show up a little early.