A couple working to rebuild at Black Mountain while battling cancer

“It’s one of those things you never think you’ll see,” Kathy Poole said, shaking her head and looking at her destroyed home.

She and her husband, Richard Poole, have lived in their Black Mountain home for over 40 years throughout their marriage.

“We never thought we would have this problem where we are,” Richard Poole said. “We are 200-300 meters from the creek.”

Kathy Poole said adrenaline kept flood water from entering.

“It got so hard, so fast, that it started pushing the door in… and it started squirting a jet of water all the way up,” she said. “I put everything I had into it to keep the door from getting in… I knew if I went in there, we would both drown.”

Kathy Poole said they held the door open for two hours. This strength saved her husband.

“She really struggled with it. I’m proud of her… I almost got carried away. I punched holes in the privacy fence to try to relieve the pressure. Another part of the fence collapsed, hit me and knocked me to the ground,” said Richard Poole.

He showed WRAL News his cuts from debris during the storm.

“See how tired my legs are? It was debris under the water, going 10-15 miles an hour, that hit me and just knocked me to the ground,” Richard Poole said. “Luckily, I managed to get up and didn’t drown in my own backyard.”

He looked at his wife, knowing that this storm wasn’t their only battle.

“Her, her daughter and her brother were all suffering from cancer at the same time. We lost her daughter, we lost her brother,” he said through tears, “but she’s still here.”

The cancer started in Kathy Poole’s appendix and has spread over the past few years. She said she had not received the chemotherapy she needed since the storm hit last week.

“It’s been a rough ride,” she said.

Along with her battle with cancer, damaged water lines cause water shortages and mold makes their home unsafe. However, Kathy Poole said the community’s support made it much easier.

Volunteers from the North Carolina Baptist Association helped remove debris and damaged furniture from their home.

“Right now they mainly needed to pack their things. They didn’t have boxes, so we brought them in,” Brooke Helms said.

She said they also dropped off food, water and other essentials to residents in the area.

“Anywhere we can volunteer, that’s what we did here today,” Helms said.

“I don’t know how we’re going to get through this, but we will,” Kathy Poole said.