Doctor in viral photo loses home to tornado
Days after a photo of a doctor taking a break from fighting coronavirus to visit his son went viral, his family lost their home to a tornado.
Alyssa Burks posted the photo of Jared Burks and his 1-year-old son, Zeke, pressing their palms against a glass door. The Facebook post was shared more than 73,000 times. Saturday, she shared the news that a tornado destroyed their home in Jonesboro, Arkansas, while her husband was inside.
“We are all safe. Our house is gone,” she wrote. “Jared was inside, but he survived by the grace of God. Zeke and I were at my mom’s house.”
Tornadoes were spotted in Arkansas, Illinois and Iowa as thunderstorms swept through the area Saturday. Officials in Jonesboro said 22 people were injured and two were hospitalized, but no deaths were reported.
Alyssa Burks told ABC News she was at her parents’ house with Zeke watching the evening news when she called her husband to warn him of reports of twisters in the area.
As she waited for the storm to pass, Alyssa heard her home alarm going off, alerting her that the house had been hit, according to ABC. Finally, her husband called.
“He got in one of our master bathroom closets,” she told the network. “Farthest one from glass, from windows.”
Although her husband was unharmed, their home was destroyed, including the glass door in the photo.
Burks, a resident physician, was quarantining himself from his family for two weeks while working in the hospital, including the ER, when the now-viral photo was taken, KATV reported. Through the glass, he got to see his son crawl for the first time.
“As soon as he saw his dad, he just raced to the door,” Alyssa Burks told the station. “He got up on the glass because I think he wanted him to hold him, so it was sad, it was cute, but it was really heartbreaking because it’s hard.”