Kara Bryson, Waynesville, North Carolinia high school cheerleader killed after tree falls on trailer she was sheltering in with friends during sudden storm.
A high school cheerleader and aspiring nurse was killed after a tree fell on her while sheltering inside a trailer as a storm suddenly erupted over Memorial Day. The tragedy happened just days before the teen girl was set to graduate.
Kara Bryson, 18, died on Monday morning when winds of up to 70mph uprooted a tree which crushed the camper she was staying in with friends at picturesque Penland Point close to the Chatuge Lake.
She was scheduled to graduate from Tuscola High School in her hometown of Waynesville, NC, on Friday this week.
@restinpeaceangels2 Kara Bryson, senior at Tuscola high school in Waynesville North Carolina, has passed away after being hit by a tree during a storm. #northcarolina #restinparadise #restinpeace #karabryson #fyp #viral #foryou #smokymoutains #reels #graduation #nurse #cheerleader ♬ She’s Somebody’s Daughter (The Wedding Version) – Drew Baldridge
Died as a result of bad luck
Kara was in the trailer with four friends at the time, according to Clay County NC Emergency Services who responded at the scene over Memorial Day weekend.
‘A large tree had been up-rooted by heavy straight-line winds and landed on the portion of the trailer that housed the victim,’ the department said.
‘It took a little bit of extrication for us to get her out and a very hostile rain and lightning still going on all around,’ Clay County EMS Director Jeff Ledford told WLOS. ‘This was just totally tragic bad luck … The tree was only about 6-8 feet from the trailer.’
There were four other people alongside Bryson in the camper who escaped without serious injuries, Ledford told the outlet
Kara was visiting the Lake Chatuge area for the weekend with friends, including her closest friend and fellow cheerleader Callie Parker the Mountaineer reported.
‘I put my hands over my head because I wasn’t sure what it was,’ Parker recalled of hearing the sounds of a thunderstorm, followed by a large crash.
‘It was still pouring, the rain. I was just in complete shock,’ she said of the moment she scrambled out of the wrecked trailer and dialed 911.
Bryson was already dead when first responders arrived, according to Clay County Emergency Services.
A fundraiser for Kara’s family described her as ‘a beautiful soul who was tragically taken too soon’.
The fundraiser said she was ‘recently pinned as a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant)’ and that she ‘enjoyed working with the residents’ at her local Skyland Terrace nursing home.
Kara was headed to Haywood Community College to knock out the first two years of her undergrad degree the fundraiser stated.
Tributes paid
‘Kara is loved by many especially by her mother, father, and three younger brothers,’ the fundraiser stated.
The teenager’s cheer team also paid tribute to the girl.
‘This is a loss. A devastating loss. A tragedy to everyone, most importantly to her family and friends… but also a horrible loss to our cheer family,’ Tuscola High School Mountaineers Cheerleading wrote in a post on Facebook.
‘We love you, Kara! Always a Tuscola Cheerleader. Always in our hearts. Forever missed!’
The high school senior had planned to get ready for graduation with her best friend Callie Parker on Friday, like they did for prom earlier in May, according to The Mountaineer.
Callie is now planning to decorate an empty chair to remember Kara on graduation night.
‘There is going to be a spot missing, someone who worked hard their whole life to be there and now doesn’t have the opportunity,’ Chloe Thompson, a fellow high school senior and cheerleader told The Mountaineer.
‘I think it is going to be hard for all of us.’
