Sunday, April 18, 1999

Tornado rejuvenates family's faith

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'Miracle' baby, injured son give new perspective

BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Brad and Becky Stein found 10-month-old Nicholas safe in the rubble of their Montgomery home, but son Joe Wells, 13, had a broken back. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        They've sat around and talked about it, but finding logic in their lives is like finding a happy baby amid tornado rubble, 40 feet from where you rocked him to sleep.

        The only thing the Stein family can figure from what happened the morning of April 9 is: There but for the grace of God went they.

        Brad and Becki Stein's brick and brown vinyl-siding house on Cornell Road in Montgomery no longer exists.

        Their 13-year-old son, Joe Wells, is immobilized with a back injury, but is expected to recover. Ten-month-old Nicholas, who was found in the storm's aftermath after a frantic search, emerged with only a tiny scratch on his arm.

        Taking a moment from his family's week-long recovery Friday, computer consultant Brad Stein said the tornado has convinced him of this much:

        “If there was any doubt about Cincinnati being a good community to live in, there's no doubt now,” he said from their hotel room at Blue Ash's Crossland Economy Studios.

        “We came out of that house to give a testimony. If you don't believe in God after you look at it, you'll never believe. Never.”

What's left of the Steins' house on Cornell Road. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        This is the best Brad and Becki can do in terms of finding logic in their lives. Five houses down the street, Lee and Jacque Cook were blown out of their house and killed. Two men died driving on nearby roads, caught in the 260-mph winds.

        Brad Stein, too, was blown from his house, landing on the side yard and crawling to the driveway in a dazed stupor. Becki was found, and Joe.

        But the baby was still missing, and then his distant cries stopped. The Steins were petrified. Minutes crawled like hours.

        When a rescue worker finally found Nicholas under a propped-up door in a doorway to which the door didn't belong, the baby just looked up and smiled.

        When secure in his father's arms, “he grinned at me on the sidewalk,” Mr. Stein recalled, “like, "Hi, Dad, what are you doing out here in your underwear?'”

        Nicholas, blue eyes and reddish hair — what there is of it — just kept smiling as if there were much ado about not much.

        His family was complete again.

        “He's really our miracle here,” his father said Friday. “He was carried there, he had to be. We've sat around and talked about it. His room was rubble.”

        Nicholas' room was in the front of the house, on the second floor. He was found “clear on the other side of the house that was com pletely removed,” Mr. Stein recalled. “And a story down.”

        Nicholas' crib was in pieces. From among the rubble, some baby photos were salvaged, as were photos from Brad and Becki's wedding day, July 26, 1997.

        But except for the washer and dryer in the basement and assorted “junk” in the garage, every material possession the family owned was destroyed.

        “It's just stuff,” Mrs. Stein assessed.

        The Steins are like many tornado victims now living in a world of insurance agents, relief volunteers, doctors and the constant buzz of a cellular phone.

        They say they are profoundly grateful for the support they've received, from friends and family to the Red Cross to their fellow members of the Owensville Church of Christ.

        Their family headquarters now is a hotel room, but insurance will cover accommodations for only 60 days. By then, the Steins must find either an apartment or a new house.

        They also are wrestling with Joe's medical problems. Joe, a Sycamore Junior High eighth-grader who turns 14 on Tuesday, spent sixdays at Children's Hospital Medical Center with a fractured back.

        He was released Wednesday, and his spirits, his dad says, are very good. He's very much looking forward to the new Star Wars movie. But he'll be in a back brace for at least a month.

        Mrs. Stein, found under a bedroom door after the tornado hit, suffered bumps and bruises. Mr. Stein, blown out a window before the wall collapsed, suffered so many abrasions that doctors at Jewish Hospital ran what seemed like an endless series of scans.

        They were sure he must have had internal injuries. He didn't.

        As Nicholas, who is just about ready to walk, stands, wobbles, plops down, giggles and rises again, his parents sit and watch him in amazement. He is the perfect microcosm of the family's experience.

        Hit the ground, get up again. Repeat as needed.

       

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