Rachel Standfest was 36 weeks pregnant when she noticed smoke in her home last May. Her husband, Travis Standfest was sleeping, so she rushed upstairs to wake him. Immediately, they realized they needed to escape.
“I helped to get Rachel out of the window, and then I picked up my dog and tossed him out of the window,” Travis Standfest, 25, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, tells TODAY.com. “By that time, the flames are coming up out the window, and so I decided I was going to run though it because I figured I could get out faster.”
Both suffered burns. Rachel Stanfest had a skull fracture, and when she arrived at the hospital, doctors delivered her baby in an emergency cesarean section. Now, nine months later, they’re recovering and adjusting to life as new parents.
Both suffered burns. Rachel Stanfest had a skull fracture, and when she arrived at the hospital, doctors delivered her baby in an emergency cesarean section. Now, nine months later, they’re recovering and adjusting to life as new parents.
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“Early fall is when we felt normal,” Rachel Standfest, 26, tells TODAY.com. “We’re just trying to figure it out. We have this beautiful story and testimony, and we know God has a purpose for us now.”
House fire leads to severe burns, a head injury and a C-section
Last spring, the Standfests were building a new home and staying in an apartment over the barn at Rachel Standfest’s parents’ home.
U.S. & World
On the evening of May 24, 2023, the mom-to-be was handling some baby shower details in her parents' house while her husband was in the apartment in bed. When she returned to the apartment to watch TV, she smelled smoke and rushed to wake her husband while calling her mom.
“The last thing I remember is (my mom) yelling, ‘You need to get out now,’ and Travis pushing out the screen in the window,” Rachel Standfest says.
While Travis Standfest was helping his wife and dog jump out of the window 15 to 20 feet off the ground, the flames started crawling up a nearby wall, so he decided to race out of the building.
“There (weren’t) any flames on the stairs yet. But I fell and then I remember getting up and running through it,” he says. “When I hit halfway through the barn, I could feel my face and hands burning.”
When he got outside, he saw his wife unconscious on the ground as the family waited for an ambulance. At some point, Rachel Standfest woke up, and she walked to the ambulance with help.
“I don’t remember anything,” she says. “My parents said because I was walking and talking, they really didn’t think it would be as severe at it was.”
The two don’t recall much else from that night or getting to the hospital, but they said firefighters told them afterward it was the hottest fire they'd responded to in five years.
"The building had collapsed on itself, so getting to some of the fire that was underneath layers and layers of all of this material was really difficult,” Grand Rapids fire chief Luke Werdon told local NBC affiliate WOOD-TV at the time.
“The cause is likely going to be undetermined due to the extent of the fire. It destroyed a lot of the evidence,” he added.
All that survived was a picture of the couple with their dog, a Bible and a T-shirt that Rachel Standfest was baptized in.
A month in the hospital, at least a year of recovery
After they arrived at the hospital, Dr. Amy Spencer, an acute care surgeon at Corewell Health in Michigan, started coordinating their treatment in consultation with other departments. After evaluating the location and severity of Rachel Standfest's burns, the OB-GYNs decided to perform an emergency C-section.
“(They thought) it would be safer for everyone to deliver the baby,” Spencer tells TODAY.com. “(The baby) was doing well from the moment that she delivered.”
When Travis Standfest awoke in the hospital the next day, he felt surprised.
“The first thing I remember was ... having a bunch of tubes in me. I couldn’t talk,” he recalls. “I didn’t even know my face was burned. I never looked in a mirror.”
Rachel Standfest experienced second- and third-degree burns “across about a third of her body,” Spencer says, and she also suffered a skull fracture from leaping out the window.
First-degree burns are the most superficial, typically causing pain and redness similar to a sunburn for just a few days, Spencer says. Second-degree burns, also called a partial thickness burn, damage the first layer of the skin. Third-degree burns are the most serious, penetrating all the layers of the skin to the fat.
At first, doctors placed both Standfests on breathing tubes, even though the mom-to-be didn’t inhale in as much smoke as her husband. The skull fracture caused her to experience some cognitive issues, as well.
To help their burns heal, both Standfests needed skin grafts, in which healthy skin is removed from one part of the body and placed on another part where skin has been lost or damaged. They also underwent a procedure called ReCell, where skin cells are turned into a spray used to reduce the appearance of scars.
While recovering from the burns, the couple faced some challenges, especially during bandage applications.
“We had dressing changes every two days, and those were bad because they would scrub you down (and) redress you,” Rachel Standfest says. “We were sedated every time, but when I got out, I felt like I couldn’t move my legs. I felt numb and stiff.”
Skin tightness from their injuries and treatment also restricted their mobility. But it was important to move to avoid further problems.
“If you don’t move those areas, they can remain tight or get worse,” Travis Standfest says. “It’s a fight with your brain like, ‘I need to endure this pain to get results.’”
Rachel Standfest had a tougher recovery due to her skull fracture. She needed cognitive therapy and to be in a dark, quiet room. She was discharged after almost a month in the hospital but had to return for follow-up skin grafts. Most of the time, she experienced a lot of pain at the spot where doctors removed the healthy skin.
“Both had larger donor sites, (which are) more painful,” Spencer says. "There’s not a great way to do painless healing of burns. Unfortunately, it’s just the manner of the injury. ... Skin is full of nerves."
For much of their time in the hospital, the couple couldn’t see each other due to their limited mobility and the new mom's medical need for darkness and quiet. But they supported each other via text, and their desire to be with their newborn daughter, Brynlee, kept them motivated. Their family cared for her while her parents were hospitalized and recovering.
“We wanted to get home and start our new life,” Rachel Standfest says.
Even after they returned home, she needed help with her bandages. Her husband took tending to her seriously.
“Every other day, he would change my dressings and stretch my legs for me so I didn’t stiffen,” Rachel Standfest says. “I don’t think I could have done it personally because it was gory, and I don’t do that. So, it was just really cool he was able to do that for me.”
A new house and baby
In the fall of 2023, Travis Standfest returned to work as the owner of a heating and cooling company. At times, the burns on his hands make his job difficult.
“I work with sheet metal, and sometimes I’m cutting myself,” he says. “It’s just this process of figuring out how much I can do, what feels good, what doesn’t feel good because I’ll hit my hand. What used to not bother me or not hurt me is an intense pain.”
Since returning home, the couple is grappling with the mental and physical trauma of surviving the fire.
Rachel Standfest can’t smell, likely due to her head injury, Spencer says, while Travis Standfest feels extremely sensitive to certain smells and dangers.
“It seems like my senses are heightened regarding safety,” he explains. “I’ll be the first person to notice someone’s having a bonfire or they’re cooking on a stove.”
For about a year, their skin will continue to heal and they may need additional treatments, Spencer says.
The couple has also been participating in talk therapy and joined the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors. Spencer says burn recovery often includes navigating tough emotions and can even cause PTSD.
“We try to follow our burn patients to try to make sure they have the support they need,” she adds.
Through this experience, the Standfests have stood by each other.
“We got to serve each other in ways that we never imagined that we could have,” Rachel Standfest says. “He was my rock.”
Travis Stanfest agrees and says this experience strengthened their faith in God, especially after seeing video of the fire.
“It’s like, how did we make it out?” he says. “I have no clue.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
