Florida resident uses DUCT TAPE and ZIP TIES to secure paralyzed husband to bed during hurricane

A Florida woman had to use duct tape and zip ties to secure her paralyzed husband to his bed as Hurricane Ian hit her home in Punta Gorda.

Renee Smith detailed the horrific measures that she had to take to ensure her cancer-stricken husband, Christopher, stayed safe as the hurricane wrecked havoc across the state earlier this week.

While she could wait out the storm downstairs underneath a table, bed-ridden Christopher – who has metastatic prostate cancer and is paralyzed from the chest down – was forced to stay upstairs in his hospital bed.

The mother-of-one, whose daughter lives in Nashville, told NBC News that she did everything she could to make sure he ‘didn’t die’ – putting pillows between him and the windows in case the wind smashed through them and giving him a life jacket to make sure he’d ‘float’ if the water flooded their home – before she hunkered down.

Renee Smith detailed the horrific measures that she had to take to ensure her cancer-stricken husband, Christopher, stayed safe as the hurricane wrecked havoc across the state

While she could wait out the storm downstairs underneath a table, bed-ridden Christopher – who has metastatic prostate cancer – was forced to stay upstairs in his hospital bed

‘Before I hid, I had to protect my husband,’ she said, while becoming emotional. ‘It was terrifying.

‘I took some blankets and I put some holes in them with scissors and I zip-tied them to the hospital bed and then I took a big [tarp] that had grommets and I zip-tied that over it.

She told NBC News that she did everything she could to make sure he ‘didn’t die’ – like putting pillows between him and the windows in case the wind smashed through them

‘Then I put pillows and plastic bags and I duct-taped them to the top of the sideboard and I put pillows between the sideboard and the window because I didn’t want him to get cut up to death if the window blew in, and then I put a life jacket on him so that if the water came in he wouldn’t drown, he would float. 

‘He has metastatic prostate cancer that has metastasized to his spine. I [didn’t] want him to die.’

Renee said she made a ‘fort’ underneath her kitchen table using pillows and blankets, and spent hours hiding there until the storm passed.

‘I could hear the chimney being ripped off the roof and coming down above my head,’ she recalled. 

She also said she gave him a life jacket to make sure he’d ‘float’ if the water flooded their home, and used duct tape and zip ties to secure him

While she suffered from a broken arm, she told the outlet she was thankful to be ‘alive.’ As for her husband, she added that he’s OK but ‘traumatized.’ Destruction in her town is seen

‘He’s alive – he’s traumatized but he’s alive,’ she explained, adding that she hopes that his radiation treatment won’t be effected by the storm. Her town is pictured after the hurricane

Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday that the tsunami-like flooding was a ‘once in a 500-year’ event, and revealed that it has left 2.7 million people without power

The storm was the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit land in the US, bringing 150 mph winds and 28.60 inches of rain; at least 21 people have died so far from the hurricane 

‘I was afraid it was going to come through the roof and crush me, even though I was under the table.

‘The rain was like a white out. It got dark during the day, it was like nighttime. And then the rain started and it was like snow. You couldn’t see out the windows.’ 

While she suffered from a broken arm, she told the outlet she was thankful to be ‘alive.’ As for her husband, she added that he’s OK but ‘traumatized.’ 

‘He’s alive – he’s traumatized but he’s alive,’ she explained, adding that she hopes that his radiation treatment won’t be effected by the storm.

Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday that the tsunami-like flooding was a ‘once in a 500-year’ event, and revealed that it has left 2.7 million people without power across the state. 

The storm was the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit land in the US, bringing 150 mph winds and 28.60 inches of rain; at least 21 people have died so far from the hurricane.