247 Industrial Way N — Approximate Location of Dallas House Fire
Susan Wood, 73, spent five hours trapped in a burning house in Dallas, Georgia, on November 11, 2025, unable to reach her husband or pet dog before both died in the smoke and flames. She survived, but the fire nearly killed her anyway, in a slower and crueler way: the smoke she inhaled destroyed her kidneys, and nearly a year later she is still fighting to stay alive while she waits for a stranger to save her.
A Fire That Didn’t End When the Flames Went Out
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, the fire started in the fireplace and filled the home with thick smoke so fast that Wood could not get to her husband or their dog before both perished in the blaze. The station reports that the severe smoke inhalation she suffered went on to cause kidney damage that progressed into full kidney failure, a devastating second blow layered on top of the loss of her family and home.
Wood then spent three months in a hospital burn unit, much of it on a ventilator, while enduring painful skin grafts on her hands, the outlet reports. She has since been released, but the kidney damage did not heal. The station’s report notes she now undergoes regular dialysis treatments while she searches for a living donor who can give her a working kidney.
No Timeline for a Match
Medical providers have not said how long Wood may remain on the active transplant waiting list before a potential donor is found, per the same account. That uncertainty leaves her in a kind of limbo familiar to thousands of patients nationwide: tethered to dialysis, hoping a compatible donor steps forward before her health deteriorates further…