Local

South Carolina woman dies after tree falls on her home

YORK, S.C. — A woman from York died after a tree fell onto her home last weekend.

Family members say 68-year-old Thereisia Lila was in her bedroom on Saturday when a large tree fell in the backyard and crashed through the roof.

Lila was trapped while her husband called for help.

“He said, ‘Katrina, (a) tree just fell on the house on top of your mom,” Katrina Rogers, Lila’s daughter, told Channel 9′s Tina Terry. “He said, ‘I can’t get to her.’ He said, ‘I called the fire department. They’re on their way.’ He said, ‘I’m so sorry.’”

Family said it was tough to find the woman inside, until emergency workers arrived.

“He was trying to find her and felt something warm by his feet, it was my mom. He picked up the bed that had the tree on it, picked it up himself and got the tree out from underneath,” Rogers said.

Lila was already a terminal cancer patient and was seriously injured by the fallen tree, the family said.

She was taken to a Charlotte hospital where she died surrounded by family.

“It was like my mom held on and suffered just so everybody could get there to love on her and say their laters,” Rogers said. “We don’ t say goodbye in my family ... we say later ... cause we know we’ll see each other again some day.”

A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Bratton Funeral Home in York, CN2 News reports.

“My mom is the kind of person, if she knew you had a need, she’d do whatever she could to try to meet that need for you,” Rogers said.

A GoFundMe page has been created to help Lila’s husband Robert. You can donate here.

(WATCH BELOW: Split tree falls onto car, home while classes being taught in east Charlotte)