Family of quadriplegic teen displaced after tree crashes into rental
By Rachel Whelan
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CINCINNATI (WLWT) — A West Price Hill mother says she and her three children have been displaced after a tree crashed onto their rental home during severe storms last Thursday.
Among her children is 14-year-old Kennedy Ross, a quadriplegic who uses a ventilator, wheelchair and hospital bed. Kennedy had just returned home days earlier after spending two months at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital recovering from pneumonia.
“Being home was supposed to be a relief,” her mother, Kiera Whitmire, said.
Whitmire said she and her family were inside the home on Beech Avenue when the tree came down.
“We thought somebody drove into our house,” she said.
Kennedy said she was lying in her bed when it happened.
“Like woosh,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t think it hit my room at first because I didn’t see it.”
Whitmire said she took photos the following morning showing debris scattered throughout the yard and a tree resting on top of the section of the home where Kennedy sleeps.
As of Wednesday afternoon, seven days after the storm, the tree remained on the home.
“There’s a tree sitting on the house,” Whitmire said. “There’s a crack on the side of the house where the tree has basically sliced it like a can-opener.”
Whitmire said the damage knocked out power to part of the home, including the kitchen.
She said hundreds of dollars worth of groceries spoiled, and some of Kennedy’s medications require refrigeration.
“My daughter is on 13 medications,” Whitmire said. “Two of them require to be refrigerated.”
Whitmire said she has spent hundreds of dollars paying for hotel rooms while trying to care for Kennedy away from the family’s handicap-accessible home.
She said relocating has been especially difficult because Kennedy requires medical equipment and accommodations that many homes do not offer.
“It makes me really sad because as a single mother of three children, I really work really hard to take care of them,” Whitmire said.
When WLWT visited the property Wednesday afternoon, contractors were removing debris outside the home.
Whitmire said workers told her they had been called to the property about an hour before WLWT arrived. She believes cleanup efforts only began after WLWT contacted the property’s owner and management company seeking comment.
WLWT could not independently verify whether the cleanup was related to our inquiries.
Whitmire said she first reported the damage to the property’s owner and management company the morning after the storm. She said she also contacted the city of Cincinnati and filed a residential complaint after she felt no progress had been made.
She said she has received a 24-hour notice to enter from management and has spoken with office staff, but says she still has not been given a timeline for repairs or told when her family can safely return home.
WLWT called and emailed the property’s owner and management company Wednesday afternoon, asking when repairs began, whether temporary housing assistance had been offered, and when the family may be able to move back in.
As of publication, WLWT had not received a response.
Whitmire said she is now exploring other housing options but says finding an affordable, handicap-accessible rental has been challenging.
“My five-year-old came with me yesterday to check and see if the tree was still on the house,” Whitmire said. “And he said, ‘Mom, do they even care?’ And that broke my heart.”
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