New Brunswick couple recovering following home explosion: ‘we’ll get through it together’

Jason and Kellie Kavanagh are pictured sharing a kiss while she recovers in a bed at the Moncton hospital.

Jason and Kellie Kavanagh have been recovering for the last seven days at The Moncton Hospital after their dream home in Grade-Digue, N.B., exploded while they slept.

“I just remember Jason yelling my name,” said Kellie from her hospital bed Friday morning. “I answered him. He came to me and said ‘we have to go’ and I was looking at my feet that were completely destroyed and bleeding and I just said, ‘I can’t. I just can’t. I can’t go.”

The couple went to bed Thursday night after watching the Canada-USA four nations hockey game and woke up a few hours later in a snowbank.

An official report is yet to be released from the Fire Marshal but it’s believed a propane leak in the house’s crawl space ignited while they slept and caused the explosion.

“It felt like I was in a movie,” said Jason. “I took the dog out and everything like before I went to bed and I never smelled any propane or anything.”

The couple said details from the morning are sparse but they remember calling for each other and their neighbour’s flashlights guiding them inside to wait for emergency personnel.

“We would never have made it where we are without them helping us and just the support from everybody, it’s overwhelming,” said Jason.

Jason is still recovering from injuries including a punctured lung, bruised ribs, a cracked sternum and several cuts, bruises and burns. By Friday morning he was able to walk between his room and Kellie’s for short visits.

Kellie has been moved from the ICU but is still recovering from severe injuries including a broken pelvis, vertebrae and deep lacerations.

“It hurts,” she said. “It’s a lot. It’s very painful.”

Jason thinks it’ll be another week or so for him in hospital and another 4-to-6 weeks for Kellie, followed by several months of physiotherapy but their release dates are yet to be determined.

“It’s going to be a long road to recovery, but Kellie’s road is going to be a lot longer than mine,” said Jason. “We’ll get through it together,”

The couple said the support they’ve received, including a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $37,000 as of Friday is helping them persevere. They said they are focused on getting better and they hope to rebuild in Grande-Digue down the road.

“You never know what’s going to happen, like I never dreamt this would have happened,” said Jason.

“Go to bed one night and wake up the next day and it could all be changed. So hug your family members tighter and live each day to the fullest.”

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