'Quite the battle': Cancer survivor, bride-to-be lose everything in apartment fire

Bride-to-be Khrysta Boulavsky's veils were destroyed in the Windsor Green fire Thursday night.

The recent Coastal Carolina University graduate, along with her mother Elaine, both jumped from the third-floor balcony as flames roared at their front door. It was the only way to escape the blaze from the apartment.

It's the second time they've lost everything in a fire — at the same apartment complex. The first happened five years ago in the fire that destroyed 26 buildings at Windsor Green.

There were 16 people who lived in nine apartments in building 4970, the unit destroyed late Thursday. Blake Cannon, a 16-year-old Windsor Green resident, caught a baby whose parents had to toss from a third-story balcony before they jumped themselves.

Elaine recently had her second breast removed due to cancer and she's currently being treated at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, suffering from two broken pelvic bones and two broken ankles, said her sister-in-law, Mona Lee. She had stitches that were reopened after the jump and has "a lot of healing to do," Lee said.

Khrysta is at Grand Strand Medical Center with a fractured pelvis bone. Lee told The Sun News Khrysta's three wedding veils were destroyed in the blaze, but her wedding dress was not at the apartment at the time of the fire. She is set to be married in December.

"Elaine has had quite the battle in the last five years to say the least," Lee said. Two days ago, Elaine had her draining tubes from surgery removed.

"She was so excited to go out and drive to the store," Lee said. "She was excited to sit on the balcony and enjoy the sunset."

Sitting on the balcony was what Elaine did just hours before the fire broke out, Lee said.

"And now she can't do that anymore," she added.

The family had just moved back to Windsor Green two months ago.

Lee said she remembers Elaine having a hard time moving back.

"It was very hard for them to return to Windsor Green again because of the shock from the first time," she explained.

In 2013, Elaine, her father, her husband Greg and Khrysta ran down the stairs as the fire destroyed their home. But Thursday night, stairs weren't an option.

"This time, they were on the third floor and had no choice but to jump down and break their bones unfortunately," Lee said.

Elaine's husband was at work. Their dog Clause was hiding under the bed and they were unable to get him. A firefighter rescued one dog, but it's unclear if it was Clause.

Both Khrysta and Elaine are awaiting surgery.

The teen who helped save a baby

Sixteen-year-old Blake Cannon, who attends Carolina Forest High School, left his apartment after his parents smelled smoke and told him there was a fire outside.

"You could see the fire, it was everywhere," Cannon said. "I was walking [behind the building] and there were two girls screaming 'help,' and I told them to climb down."

Then Cannon said he found a family trapped on their third-story balcony.

"There was a family, and they had a baby and a son, and then I told them I'd catch their baby," Cannon told The Sun News Friday. "So they counted to three, and dropped [the baby] and I caught it. And then the son jumped out and then the mom and dad jumped out after that."

Joey LaFond, Cannon's father, said he was "just proud" of Cannon's actions that night.

"You don't expect a 16-year-old to go down there and run behind the building to see what's going on, but he ran back there to see what was going on, and it's a good thing he was back there," LaFond said. "Blake came running back and said that there was people jumping off of the third floor, and that someone threw a baby down to him — he was just shaken up after that."

Cannon's mother, Candice LaFond, also expressed how proud she was of Cannon.

"He could've been grabbing Xboxes and skateboards, but he took off to see what he could do to help," she said.

How to help victims

A GoFundMe started for Elaine and Khrysta has raised more than $1,300. Moving forward, Lee said she and her family will pull together and figure out the next steps.

Another GoFundMe for the community was started, with a goal to raise $10,000.

In the mean time, Lee, who is the owner of Beautiful Mind, a stress relief center, said she is offering support through her center for those who have been impacted from the fire.

"The community has love here and has support," she said.

Hannah Strong: 843-444-1765, @HannahLStrong; Michaela Broyles: 843-626-0281, @MichaelaBroyles

This story was originally published April 13, 2018 at 4:07 PM with the headline "'Quite the battle': Cancer survivor, bride-to-be lose everything in apartment fire."