‘They thought I was dead,’ says man rescued after tree fell on Rock Hill home

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Amidst the chaos of Helene, there was a moment of hope.

On Sept. 27, David Hamner was rescued from his Rock Hill home after being pinned by a tree. As he was pulled out of the wreckage, he gave a thumbs-up from a stretcher.

One week later, he gave another thumbs-up, this time following a miraculous recovery.

“There were a couple of times I really did think it was the end, and [a firefighter] just kept giving me the verbal reaffirmation to concentrate on the breathing, keep fighting,” Hamner said.

PREVIOUS: 2 rescued after being trapped when tree fell on home in Rock Hill

Now, Hamner, a husband and father to three girls, has been out of the hospital for days. His house is a loss, but he’s so grateful to have made it out alive and to be walking and talking.

David Hamner's home Friday marks one week since Helene moved through the Carolinas, leaving a path of destruction. Now for the first time, we’re hearing from a man injured during the storm when a tree fell on his Rock Hill home.

It took over two hours to rescue him after the falling tree pinned him to his bed.

“I woke up to being pinned down, the weight bearing down on me,” Hamner said. “I couldn’t breathe from the beginning.”

His wife managed to call 911 and emergency workers arrived. They got his wife to safety and started cutting through walls to get to him.

“All I could see was a hole in a wall,” Hamner said. “Once they found my head, they punched through, made it bigger, and was able to get an oxygen mask down there.”

He still struggled to breathe and fought through the pain. He said one firefighter stayed close and encouraged him.

“At that time, breathing was so hard, so taxing, and I had been doing it for so long at that point,” Hamner said. “An hour and a half and just [breathing], that’s all I could do.”

His 11-year-old and 5-year-old twin daughters worked to get out of the house. The twins climbed through a hole in the wall.

ALSO READ: FEMA assisting storm victims in North and South Carolina

“They like a couple of little squirrels,” Hamner said. “Shimmied down the branch through a hole in the wall and jumped down to safety. And that is so amazing. Another God thing.”

In a striking photo, he gave a thumbs up as crews finally removed him from the grasp of that tree.

“They thought I was dead multiple times, and if I wasn’t dead, my whole left side was going to be completely crushed,” Hamner said. “And by the grace of God, after tests, I walked out of the hospital without a broken bone.”

The family is staying in a hotel but they’re grateful to be together.

Hamner said he looks forward to meeting the emergency workers who helped rescue him.

As you can imagine, the Hamners have a long road to getting back into a home. If you’d like to help the Hamners, you can do the following:

Donate to their GoFundMe to help rebuild the Hamner home
Impact Church is helping coordinate long-term help since their home is uninhabitable. Anyone who wants to donate/help can email rnelson@impactmycity.org.

(WATCH BELOW: SC firefighters die after tree falls on firetruck during Tropical Storm Helene)