Members of a Utah family in mourning after their childhood home went up in flames have discovered a “miracle” among the ashes.
Christina Dignam and her five siblings were heartbroken after their family house in West Valley City was burned beyond repair last Tuesday, with Dignam telling KSTU-TV that her things and her “memories are gone.”
Her sister, Jeanille Duran Keener, perfectly summed up the tragic loss up in a GoFundMe description: “55 years of history & memories, all lost in less than 5 minutes.”
But there was at least one silver lining amid the chaos of the past week, as Christina Dignam noticed a white box while peeking through one of the home’s many burned walls. She asked a worker to open it, and to her surprise she discovered scores of unknown family photos and albums — something she’s calling a miracle.
The photos had been assembled by her late mother, whom she called the “family historian.” In the wake of the tragic home burning, Dignam is quite thankful for these unexpected memories.
“Miracles happen every day. You just need to know how to recognize them,” she told KSTU-TV. “Pictures just came flying out of that area.”
Dignam and her five siblings stood in front of the charred family home last Wednesday, rifling through the photos, which date back a hundred years and span countless generations.
“All of us just saying somehow my mom had a hand in that,” Dignam said of the shocking, yet encouraging, photo discovery.
The home is scheduled to be torn down in the near future, but the photos will live on.
A GoFundMe campaign to help the family recover from the devastating loss has brought in $2,105 over the past week.
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