POPLAR GROVE, Ill. (WIFR) – John Russo’s family knew the 49-year-old as husband, dad, volunteer coach and fighter.
“He would do anything for anybody,” says Carli Russo, his wife. She sits on a hotel bed beside John – their kids, Payton and JJ, sit near as well.
The family moved into the hotel room in Rockford on Tuesday morning. At midnight, the four escaped their burning home in Poplar Grove.
“[I] slammed the door shut, came running in the house screaming for the kids to get out and got my husband in the wheelchair and was able to get him out and across the street with the some help from some neighbors,” recalled Carli.
Video on social media captured an orange hue filling the sky from the house’s flames…