Elderly woman saved from house fire but loses everything

ROSEVILLE, Mich. (FOX 2) - Lillian Telesz is alive, but everything she had is gone.

On Monday night Telesz, 83, woke up coughing to smoke filling her Roseville house in Waldorf. She called her son Kevin Rumfelt - who luckily lived only a block away.

"I went there immediately," Rumfelt said. "I am not sure just a lot of smoke coming out, and then by the time I got her out and in my car, there were flames."

Kevin stormed the smoke-filled house rescuing his elderly mother and golden retriever Angel just in time.  

Flames took over and cell phone video shows because of the frigid temperatures, firefighters struggled accessing water from frozen fire hydrants and their trucks.

"It just kept burning and burning, because we didn't have water access for a while she was complaining she couldn't breathe got her to the ER," he said.

Kevin and his daughters met with FOX 2 outside Ascension Hospital in Warren where Lillian, who suffered from smoke inhalation, remains in intensive care on a ventilator.

"It is more about all of the memories and she has been there so many years," Kevin said. "It is going to be heartbreaking for her when she wakes up."

But the family is grateful - Kevin was able to rescue their beloved grandmother in time.

But reality is setting in for a woman everyone who knew her referred to as 'grandma Lillian. The home was burned to the ground. and everything she owned inside was left in the charred rubble.

Lillian only left with the pajamas she was wearing at the time. That's why the family has started a GoFundMe page hoping donations will help their loved one move on once she recovers and is released from the hospital. 

"People have been so kind we are just hoping they can find the kindness in their heart to share a little bit," said one of her granddaughters.

To donate CLICK HERE http://bit.ly/2T6QD1W