Woman returns to home lost in South Fork fire after life-threatening procedure

By Faith Egbuonu

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    RUIDOSO, New Mexico (KOAT) — Delaney Davis and her wife Valorie lost their home in the South Fork Fire.

Davis underwent a life-threatening procedure, out of the country, when they received the news from her mother, Sharon, while in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Davis has suffered from a long-term illness.

Davis and her wife’s home is currently in the “exclusion” zone. Both have not been able to return during search and rescue operations. KOAT was able to get a first-hand look at the destruction of their home with permission. Delaney and her mother, Sharon, spoke with KOAT following the aftermath. Delaney’s brother also lost his home to the South Fork fire.

“There were some complications with allergic reactions to things that caused us to be extended a week [out of the country]. I was physically exhausted and in so much pain and still so out of it. It’s beyond devastating and heartbreaking,” Delaney Davis told KOAT.

“The magnitude of what Delaney was going through was already so, so scary for all of us. Her health was in such a predicament. And for her to go through the second treatment, I was a nervous wreck,” Delaney’s mother, Sharon Davis, told KOAT.

“Then to find out that we have to evacuate right when she’s coming out of the sedation. She’s been in so much pain for so long. She was in a wheelchair, and she looked so weak,” [Sharon] Davis said. “And Valorie, her wife, said she knows, and just the look on her face as she was coming out. It was something that was so unreal. I couldn’t believe I was going to have to tell my daughter that her home was gone.”

“My wife had realized that it was getting really bad. And so, she was like, ‘I think you need to come downstairs where we could get to Wi-Fi and see what’s going on. They got me in a wheelchair and took me down there because I couldn’t even walk at that point,” [Delaney] Davis said.

“That’s when we started checking out the maps and getting more updates from friends and family. It happened really quick. I mean, within a couple hours, the fire map went over where our home was, and I was afraid that it was gone at that point. But it wasn’t until the next day that we got absolute confirmation that it was totally gone,” [Delaney] Davis told KOAT.

Delaney told KOAT they’ve lost everything in the fire, including her medical equipment for home treatments.

“We had just spent most of our savings getting a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. We had all of this healing equipment in our home that we had gotten to set up and ready for me to come back to — and have a stable environment for me to continue my healing and treatments,” Davis said.

Delaney and her wife, Valorie, are musicians. They often perform at various sites throughout New Mexico. However, their entire catalogue and instruments were also destroyed in the fire which is Delaney’s source of income. She told KOAT, due to her illness, she’s unable to hold a job for long. The family is now leaning on the strength of each other to pull through dark times.

“Most of our favorite places now are gone that we would go hike and just escape and be in the woods. It’s just so unreal. The loss of life, this town, the wildlife, the forests— they won’t recover in our lifetimes, so all the memories that we had are just memories,” [Delaney] Davis said.

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