BRANFORD, Conn. — It's been more than a week since Tropical Storm Isaias came perilously close to taking the life of a wheelchair-bound Branford woman, who says her nephew was her guardian angel.
Looking at the roof and nearly collapsed master bedroom walls at Justine Guckin and Barronlee Grasso's home it's not hard to understand why they believe there was divine intervention on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 4.
Guckin said, if her nephew had not been visiting, she would have been in the master bedroom when her world came crashing down.
"I’m just breathing every day," Guckin said, with a laugh, today. "Still thankful to just still be here."
She says prayer has gotten her and her husband, Barronlee, through an ordeal that started around mid-afternoon last Tuesday.
"As I was folding laundry, I heard a crack," she said. "So, I looked out at the tree and I took a picture of it and I sent it to Barron."
He said he joked with her telling her to call him when it fell down. It didn't take long for that call to come.
After that eerie cracking sound, and confined to a wheelchair, Justine decided it was safer to be downstairs, where her nephew was.
"and, within a half an hour, it felt like a freight train went through the house," she said Thursday.
Half of a massive backyard tree crashed through the master bedroom, where Justine had been.
"And, I really couldn’t breathe when I was talking to the 911 person, who answered the phone because I was just so scared and I didn’t know if it was done falling," she said, choking up.
"It was just unreal to see the top of the tree in the front of our driveway," Grasso recalled after he raced home from work.
Now, their days are spent dealing with insurance and living in hotels. Shortly, they will be putting a mobile home on the property to live in.
"So we can stay at our house and make sure everything is taken care of there that can be taken care of, while they are reconstructing," Grasso said.
The couple is thankful their pool remains standing because Justine needs it for therapy.
"I am a polio survivor," she said, noting she was diagnosed at the age of two. "So, I have always had a pool where ever I am."
Justine says some have asked permission to raise money for their recovery. She said, at this point for her and her husband are just asking for prayers and are appreciative of the gift of life.