WEXFORD, Pa. — A family from East Palestine is now staying with relatives in Wexford because they no longer feel safe in their home.
“I love our town, the life that we had and I feel like it’s gone because we just don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Tammy Youschak.
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The family lives just over a mile away from where the train derailed three weeks ago. They got in their car and drove closer to see what was going on, not knowing how this would impact them.
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“That night, we slept okay. Woke up in the morning and we were all sick instantly the throat swollen, headaches,” said Shane Miller.
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The next day, Miller and Youschak left with their teenage son to stay with family in Wexford because they were worried about their safety and health.
“We just felt like we were in danger from everything going on,” said Miller.
But their lives are still in Ohio, so everyday they drive back and forth to take their son Cody to school at East Palestine High School. They also own a business outside of town. Youchak also just had knee surgery and has to do therapy every other day at their house.
“Our plan is to get some kind of normalcy back in our life because we are all uprooted but not together,” said Miller.
The family plans to buy a camper to live in for the next six months.
“Or as long as it takes until the cleanup is done downtown, until we get some rock solid evidence answers to see if it’s safe or not safe,” said Miller.
They said the most important thing is that they are together and are lucky they have somewhere to go, while many others don’t have that choice.
“It’s hard because a lot of our friends live closer to the train tracks and they are really being affected and we grew up with them it’s just hard seeing them suffer,” said Youschak.
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The family plans to go to a campground near Salem, Ohio but they don’t know if they will ever return to their home in East Palestine permanently.
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