By Randa Anthony
A local teen has helped a family put their lives back together.
On Feb. 15, a blaze tore through the house of a Wyanet family, claiming the life of nine-year-old Sara Sissel, critically injuring her mother, Deborah, and leaving her father, Rusty, and five sisters to mourn their loss.
"Everything they had was lost," said Rusty's sister-in-law Regina (Marchell) Sissel.
Joe Fritz, a 16-year-old sophomore at Bureau Valley High School was at home when he noticed his neighbor's house on fire.
"Rusty was so out of breath from the smoke when the other girls got out, he just couldn't find Debbie," Regina Sissel said. "Joe (Fritz) went in that burning house to find her and pulled her out."
"Joe gave the family a chance to be together, and then Erica gave them hope," she said, referring to another local teen, Erica Maloy.
Maloy, 17, who is a senior at Bureau Valley H.S., lives just a few houses away. She said she looked out her bedroom window and watched in horror and the flames grew higher and higher, until firefighters could bring what was left of the house to a hazy smolder.
"It was horrible," Maloy said. "I just watched it burn down from my window. The next day I found out how substantial the damage had been, not just to the house but to the family."
That day, she, like many others in Wyanet, thought of the Sissel family. While she was think of them, she saw an address to send letters and comments to the Maury Povich show.
She took down the address and sat down to write. She had never written a letter like this before, but she poured her sympathy for them into each word, as the tears might have poured from her eyes.
"I don't really know why, but something told me to write it," Maloy said. "Then I sent it."
A couple of weeks later, Maloy returned from school to find that someone from the Povich show had called to ask her to appear on a show called Maury Makes Wishes and Dreams Come True. Povich had read her letter and been so moved by it, he wanted her on the show, the caller said.
"I was totally in shock," Maloy said. "I didn't even expect them to read my letter. I was crying so hard when they told me they were going to help."
On March 22, Maloy and her mother were on a plane to New York. The Sissels had also been contacted and Rusty, the five girls and sister-in-law Regina were on another plane.
Povich brought them on stage. He had Maloy read her letter, and those who listened tried to hold back tears.
After speaking with the Sissels, he announced that he was so moved by Maloy's pleas that the show was not only going to give them clothes and toys, they were going to build them a new home.
The show, which was taped, aired on April 1.
The Sissel children are excited about the future.
Regina Sissel said, "They just can't wait. They realize that once the house is built, they'll all be together again."
She also said with Debbie getting out of the hospital soon, "they can finally have a chance to heal together as a family."
Speaking on behalf of the family, Regina said, "It's just been so overwhelming. We've tried to say thank you to everyone, but the outreach of people in the community has been so outstanding it's been really hard to make sure no thank yous have been overlooked."
"It's wonderful to think that a community this size can be so loving."
"We can't thank Joe or Erica enough," she said.
Maloy said, "It just makes me feel good knowing I could help somebody and that I could make a difference."
This summer she plans to start at IVCC, working toward an Associate in Arts degree.
Povich is planning to monitor the events in Wyanet. He may follow-up the Sissel story, once the house has been built and the family can get settled and find some peace since that tragic night in February that changed their lives forever.
April 8, 1999 the Apache