Tony Raines, a multiple-time competitor and former finalist on The Challenge, says he’s thankful to be able to hug his family still after a traumatic incident involving Hurricane Ida.
The deadly and destructive Category 4 hurricane ripped through Louisiana and elsewhere, resulting in injuries, deaths, and destroyed homes.
It affected Tony, his family, and their home, as he shared a post to let others know the scary details about what happened. Many of Tony’s castmates offered their words of support after seeing how it impacted his life.
Tony Raines shares ‘traumatic’ story about Hurricane Ida
On Thursday, September 9, Challenge star Tony Raines shared a series of images on his official Instagram profile along with the details of how Hurricane Ida destroyed his home and caused injuries to his wife.
Based on details in his caption, a tree crashed through his home during the night of the storm. Tony said he’d fallen to the floor, but his adrenaline took over, and he went to make sure his wife, Alyssa, and daughter were OK.
He found his daughter crying and his wife “unresponsive” at first, but he could still hear her breathing. Tony indicated that after clearing debris away from Alyssa, she regained conscience.
It turned out that she had suffered a blow to the head when the tree crashed through their ceiling, causing her to lose consciousness. Additionally, he mentioned his wife suffered a severe hand injury.
Based on his story, no emergency services could get to them, so they had to wait things out for five hours. When they attempted to make their way out to get help, many roadways were blocked by downed trees and power lines.
Luckily, they encountered someone along the way with a chainsaw who helped them get through the blocked roadways to a hospital four hours later.
Tony showed an image of his wife at the hospital in his post below, saying she received assistance, including stitches in her forehead and has surgery scheduled for her hand. He said a full recovery could be possible within three months.
“I struggled with sharing this but I wanted everyone to know that miracles do happen. If that tree or part of the roof falls a foot in any other direction this could be a different story. I’m thankful I get to hug my family and as traumatic as this experience was, we are all blessed to still be here!” Tony shared in his caption.
Ahead of Tony’s story, his former castmate Jemmye Carroll shared with fans that she chose to evacuate her home area in Louisiana and head to Florida for safety.
Challenge castmates react to Tony’s circumstances
After appearing on a season of The Real World, Tony appeared on six regular seasons of MTV’s The Challenge. Many cast members dropped by his comments with words of encouragement and support or offered assistance if needed.
That included seven-time champion Johnny Bananas, one of Tony’s good friends and allies during his time on the show.
Another castmate, two-time champion Wes Bergmann, expressed his thoughts about the traumatic incident that befell Tony and his family during Hurricane Ida.
“I’m so happy your family is okay and incredibly sorry you had to go through this. My thoughts are with you during the road to recovery,” Wes told his castmate.
Jenna Compono, who recently had her first child with Zach Nichols, also left her words of support upon seeing Tony’s story. She offered help if Tony and his wife Alyssa needed anything.
Two-time Challenge champion Cara Maria Sorbello called Tony a “100% pure superman dad” in her comment, sending her love to him and his family.
The Challenge: All Stars’ Mark Long also sent his prayers and said he’s keeping Tony and his family in his thoughts daily as they recover from the tough circumstances.
Many other Challenge stars left comments supporting Tony and his family, including Kam Williams, Kailah Casillas, Tori Deal, Kyle Christie, Darrell Taylor, Brad Fiorenza, Jemmye Carroll, KellyAnne Judd, and Marie Roda.
Tony shares update about GoFundMe donations
Following the destruction that Hurricane Ida caused his home, a friend of Tony and his family set up a GoFundMe to help them out. Several Challenge stars tweeted about it to help spread the word, which seems to have greatly helped.
In an update he shared on his Instagram Story on Friday, September 10, Tony revealed that over $7,600 had been raised towards a goal of $10,000.
“WOW! Thank you to everyone who has contributed. My family is very grateful. A special thank you to @helloalievans for creating this for us!” Tony wrote on the IG Story slide.
As of this report, the Raines’ GoFund Me page had surpassed $9,000 in donations towards the $10,000 goal.
After originally appearing on MTV’s Real World: Skeletons, Tony debuted on The Challenge: Battle of the Bloodlines in 2015. He’d go on to appear on five more seasons, reaching the final during his Vendettas appearance.
Tony last appeared on the Champs vs. Stars spinoff and Final Reckoning in late 2018 and has since been away from the show spending time with his family.
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