Mother On Phone With Daughter When Tornado Hits Home In Holdenville

A mother's worst nightmare, her family in the path of a tornado while she's miles away from home. The tornado not only severely injured her children but took the life of another family member.

“It just doesn’t feel real,” Candace Harjo said.

Harjo said she was in Houston where her husband is fighting cancer at MD Anderson. She said she was on the phone with her 14-year-old daughter when the tornado hit her home.

“The storm never goes our direction,” she said.

However, Saturday night it did, heading right toward her home in Holdenville. Her daughter Riley, 26-year-old son Josh and 35-year-old brother-in-law Jimmy Johnson III, were all inside taking cover.

“I said 'Riley you get in the hallway you and Josh get in the hallway,'” Harjo recalls. “All of a sudden, her phone went dead."

She said the tornado threw the home at least 45 feet, killing her brother-in-law and sending her children to the hospital. Harjo rushed back to Oklahoma. She said Riley suffered a broken pelvis, leg, arm, and lacerated kidney, while her son Josh has broken ribs. Both are expected to recover. Thankful her children survived, Harjo said she still can’t process the loss of Jimmy.

“He's the fun uncle, he's the one that everyone runs to,” she said.

Other family members picking up the pieces of what's left of the home say Jimmy will be missed.

“He was a great guy to everybody, the whole family. He was always there to lend a helping hand telling jokes and always checking on everybody,” said Lenora Tiger, Johnson’s Cousin.

Candace says her daughter will undergo another surgery on her arm. Both of her children are expected to recover. If you would like to help the family, you can click here: https://gofund.me/5844cbf7 It’s a GoFundMe set up for her husband’s cancer treatment but will also be used now for her children.