“The Wire” actor Tray Chaney provided an update after his son was tossed in the air as a tornado destroyed his family home in metro Atlanta last week.
Chaney’s son, Malachi, was reportedly thrown 300 feet by the force of the tornado and suffered multiple broken bones in his face and body. He was rushed to a local hospital close to their home in Locust Grove, Georgia, about 35 miles south of Atlanta. He was immediately admitted to the intensive care unit and listed in critical condition.
Lost house and all his possessions
The actor then told his fans and followers on Instagram on May 30 about how the disaster completely demolished his home and enumerated his son’s injuries.
“I lost my house. I lost everything in it. Thank God, I’m still living. I survived a tornado. My son, he survived. I’m doing a video to let everyone know, cherish life,” he said while expressing deep emotions. “Cherish life as much as you can.”
The actor, who shares son Malachi with wife Ayesha Chaney, noted, “I wish he was the one doing the video and I was the one in the ICU.”
Nearly killed by the tornado
Chaney later told TMZ that he was also knocked unconscious by the twister himself and could have been killed.
“We went through war with a tornado, you know?” he recalls the horror. “The tough part is watching [Malachi] be stable and respond the best way he can. And every single day, he doesn’t know what happened.”
Tray Chaney said he was ready for sleep when catastrophe struck
Chaney told the outlet that he’d been in bed when, suddenly, he said he heard a “train was coming” toward them.
“I just remember turning to my right and my walls, and my TVs and my dressers and my bed turned upside down and I levitated in the air,” the actor said while getting emotional. “I just remember covering [my face with my arms] like this, yelling my son’s name out.”
He said he later woke up on the ground in the mud with pieces of his tattered home strewn on and around him. His neighbors rushed to his aid. His son, Malachi, was found in the woods behind where his house used to be.
A long road to recovery
Chaney, who played Malik “Poot” Carr on the legendary HBO series, told TMZ that it is a miracle that his son is alive and that his condition has improved dramatically from critical to stable condition. He has been removed from the ICU into the regular wing of the hospital, where he will remain indefinitely.
“I’m proud to announce that Malachi is in stable condition and after spending six days in the ICU… he’s now moved to a regular room,” Chaney told the entertainment outlet.
“Malachi is stable,” he added. “But it’s going to be a long journey and a long road to recovery. We’re not out of the hospital.”
Tray Chaney calls his son his ‘hero’
This follows the previous update when Chaney hailed his son as his “hero” in an Instagram post.
“Did 5 Days in ICU,” the actor wrote on Wednesday, June 4. “Still gotta remain in the hospital for a whole other process BUT you talking Progress… LIKE YOU MY HERO!”
