WASHINGTON (WUSA9) – A Southeast D.C. couple surprised with a home makeover after a devastating fire nearly one year ago kept the party going Monday by surprising the D.C. firefighters who saved them.
Mr. and Mrs. Boston gave plaques to the unsung heroes inside their brand new home.
“Come here ya’ll, thank you! I know you had to pick my big butt up, but thank you! Ya’ll don’t get the recognition ya’ll need but thank you,” said Deborah Edwards-Boston, excited and teary-eyed at the same time.
Revived not once, but twice, Boston, alongside her husband, Michael Boston hugged and shook the firefighters’ hands after.
“It was nice. It was really nice. It doesn’t happen really often. We don’t expect it,” D.C. Firefighter Technician Thomas Silverstrim Jr. said. He was one of the first responders there that April 2015 morning when firefighters pulled Mr. Boston’s limp body out from their burning 16th Street SE second floor.
Paramedics brought Mrs. Boston back to life after she flat-lined in the alleyway next door. Boston had to be revived once more at a Baltimore trauma center. Monday was the first time she returned to the home since just after the fire.
“So surreal, that almost a year ago this was a black piece of soot. I’m alive and I’m so grateful,” said Mrs. Boston.
She’s got her spirit back!
“Okay I’m trying to do my sexy walk,” Boston joked while walking with her cane towards her brand new front door.
She was all smiles on Monday, but the journey has been a difficult one. Boston was so badly injured in the fire, she now walks with that cane. She told WUSA9, she can no longer work.
Mr. Boston suffered severe burns and trauma from the fire as well.
Trying to fix up what was left of the Southeast home became a nightmare for the couple and their family until a reconstruction group, D & A Designs, stepped in and donated a complete redesign of the home.
Granite countertops and a tile backsplash covered the kitchen. Stone went up the main wall of the family room. In the basement, the letters “M” and “C” for “man cave” hung on the wall.
“We wanted this, when they walked in, to just forget about the tragedy and just look at the blessing behind the tragedy,” said Derek Marin Hager with D & A Designs.
When Mr. and Mrs. Boston thought we weren’t looking, WUSA9 spotted them just running their hands along the trim and edges of furniture, still in shock over it all.
“How you feeling right now?” someone asked Mr. Boston. “Blessed, truly blessed,” he quietly replied while smiling.
“Wow, wow, wow! Take ya’ll shoes off! Wow! Wow!” said Mrs. Boston with tears running down her eyes.
The couple told WUSA9 they used to work security at a Smithsonian museum and met through that job. But without being able to work, they didn’t know how they could even afford to rebuild their home after the fire.
Monday will be their first night back since the devastating fire.
