A Grenfell Tower survivor was reunited with her cat two months after being forced to leave her behind as she fled the inferno.
Kerry O’Hara, 53, was in her flat on the sixth floor when the fire ripped through the West London tower block.
She escaped around 1.30am on June 14, but was forced to leave her beloved cat Rosey behind.
Kerry O’Hara (left), 53, was in her flat on the sixth floor when the fire ripped through the West London tower block. She escaped around 1.30am on June 14, but was forced to leave her beloved cat Rosey (right) behind
Flames and smoke could be seen coming from the huge building on June 14, and at least 80 people were killed
Ms O’Hara revealed that she was ‘too panicked’ to think of a plan to take Rosey out with her, as she couldn’t see anything when she opened her front door, due to the thick black smoke.
Before fleeing her home of 18 years, she looked back and saw her pet on the sofa staring at her and thought she would never see her cat again.
Describing her escape, she told The Guardian: ‘I couldn’t see anything, it was pitch black. I was feeling along the walls to get to the stairwell. I was coughing, and screaming “help me, help me, I’m here”.
‘I managed to get down to the second floor on my own, then a firefighter grabbed my hand and led me out. I looked over my shoulder (at the burning building) and it felt like I was in a dream.’
Following the fire, which killed at least 80 people, Ms O’Hara made homemade ‘missing’ posters to try to find her black and white cat.
After weeks passed, she accepted the loss of her pet and she said it made her depression and stress worse.
After weeks passed, Ms O’Hara accepted the loss of her pet and she said it made her depression and stress worse
Kerry O’Hara, 53, was in her flat on the sixth floor when the fire ripped through the West London tower block (pictured the day after the blaze)
However, two months later a resident in nearby Oxford Gardens found a ‘frightened’ cat and took it to a vet for its microchip to be scanned.
The registered address – Flat 34, Grenfell Tower – appeared as the match and Ms O’Hara was contacted.
Ms O’Hara said: ‘I got a phone call from someone saying we think we’ve found your cat.
‘I was asking, is she OK, is she burnt? But she just had a scratch on her nose. She recognised me straight away. Now I don’t let her out of my sight.’
As well as her beloved cat, Ms O’Hara was able to be reunited with her passport, some photographs, birth certificates and books from her partially burned flat.