Mother opens up after losing 2 sons in Christmas house fire, ‘I’m hurting, but I have to be strong for them'

DETROIT. - Today, Demika Pinson is reliving a nightmare. 

"All I was thinking was Mika, your kids. If we don’t jump out this window and get out of here the best way we know how, we’re going to die," she said. 

It was Christmas morning and Demika sensed trouble when she woke up to use the bathroom. 

"I was like, Darius - I don’t know what is going on, but I think this house is about to blow up," Demika said. 

Darius, 10, was near his mom. As Demika searched for her other kids, 2-year-old Dyorr and 8-year-old Deliah, and also 7-year-old DeLon and 6-year-year-old DeMarion, who both fell asleep downstairs near Christmas presents. 

"I had my 2-year-old and I reached her out the window," Demika said. 

Demika then tried to get Deliah and Darius to follow her. 

"Then I’m reaching for them, but all I see is a black curtain and they disappeared," she said. "I’m yelling their names and I’m slipping in the process. So, I jumped down with my daughter in my arms."

Demika is now outside with her 2-year-old. 

"I start going crazy like oh my gosh, I’ve got to get back in and I start kicking the door, but I didn’t have on no shoes."

Then, Demika seen something that gives her hope. 

"I see Darius and Deliah walking out holding hands," she said. "As soon as they ran out, I saw a trail of fire behind them."

But DeLon and DeMarion were nowhere to be found. 

"I’m trying to wake them up," Demika said. "I’m screaming their names and everything."

Neighbors ran outside because of the screaming and called 911. Unfortunately, DeLon and DeMarion didn’t make it out alone. 

"I can’t question God," Demika said. 

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but there were no smoke detectors inside the home. 

"You have to have smoke detectors," Demika said, 

Demika calls her son Darius a hero for leading his sister, Deliah, through the flames. 

"My son, Darius, had to do stuff that I couldn’t do," she said. "I’m so proud of him."

As the mom works to pick up the pieces and rebuild after losing two kids, she now knows the road ahead will be difficult. 

"I’m hurting," she said. "My kids fighting, but I have to be strong for them."

To complicate matters even more, Demika cannot be with Deliah and Darius, who are at the hospital as they recover from third degree burns, because she has COVID 19.  She also has not told them that their brothers are in Heaven.

"I need them to heal and I need them to do the best that they can while they’re fighting," she said. 

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