After Colby and Tanya Henheffer lost their Radville home to a fire on October 20th, 2024, the supportive response from the community was overwhelming.
Tanya said funds were being sent from all over, including from as far away as Calgary. However, one bit of particularly life-changing help came from her lifelong family dentist, Dr. Greg Konotopetz.
After having braces when she was younger, which resulted in more dental issues, including requiring dentures in her 20s, an offer came during an appointment not long after the fire.
Dr. Greg said he wanted to help her out, offering implant surgery and a full set of dental implants at no charge.
"The assistant's and hygienists' jaws dropped, and I was like, okay, just in instant disbelief. My emotions were all over the place. Everybody from the office was like, 'Did you hear what he's going to do?' He wanted to help, and he just didn't know how, and he's known me since I was little. He was there through my braces, he was there for the repairs after my braces. He's just kind of been there through the whole journey with me in a way."
She said it was life-changing because dentures limit a lot of what one can eat and enjoy, as 'dentures are uncomfortable even in the best-case scenario'.
"I don't know how to word how grateful I am and I just think he deserves some kind of recognition, even though he's so humble about it, right? Like he's like, 'No, it's okay', and I'm like, 'No, really, like, you don't know how much you changed my life'."
On the night of the fire, due to Tanya running back into the house to get the family's cat and dog, Colby took her to the Weyburn General Hospital.
"Sticking your head in the door and yelling, like, don't do that. Learn from me. Please don't. Just open the door and hope for the best," she shared. "By then, they had the fire out, but it did reignite in the middle of the night and went from a repairable to now we're waiting on a complete demo of the home."
Having lost the home where they raised their three children and not being able to outright replace it due to insurance limitations, even with the best policy, the Henheffers are now in a different home in Radville.
While their daughters had moved out of the home, their son Kayden, a football player since age seven and now in his Grade 12 year, lost his long-accumulated football memorabilia, including several jerseys he had on display.
"The day of the fire, he was actually in Weyburn as some of us football moms of the Grade 12s hired a photographer and she was just taking shots of the boys out in the field, throwing the ball around, being goofs, taking some good shots of them, so that's where he was when it happened," she shared.
"Thank the Lord he was at his pictures that day because he has his rings from the provincial championships with him."
Kayden's team also stepped up to help. He was directed to the school office, where he found a PlayStation donated by his friend Jaret Hayworth. There was also clothing and messages with well-wishes.
"Coach Kerr gave him a trophy and said, 'Hey, anything you need, let me know'. He won an award last season, and they actually have them hanging in the locker rooms, and it's a board that the coach made up with half a helmet, and coach Kerr gave it to him and said, 'You need something for your wall, you don't have anything anymore. You need something. You take this. We'll make another one and start adding names to it again'. So he's got that."
While a fundraising initiative was started for the Henheffers just days after the fire, the process of accumulating everything that was lost was ongoing, while living in a hotel and trying to write down all that was lost for insurance recovery purposes.
"We're very lucky to have two communities, the community of Radville and Weyburn. The little second-hand shop in Radville, what a wonderful store. They collected donations so people would just drop off cash there because they have everything. If you've never been, check it out. They give back so much to the community, and so you leave a cash donation there, you get a tax receipt. But then we used that money in the store as an in-store credit for things."
She noted Studio 7 gifted her a hair straightener just days after the fire, when she realized it was one of the many items she was missing.
"I didn't know people knew at that point, right? Cause for the first four days, I'm like, 'I can't ask'."
Tanya said to anyone who is in a similar situation, "You're not asking for handouts. You're asking for a hand up when you're like, 'I don't want to go downtown and be bombarded, but if I give you my debit card, can you run to the store?' and they'll be like, 'No, I'll just go for you, what do you need?'"
"Take that help. People are not going to offer if they can't. So get over yourself and accept the help when it's given. That was very hard for me to do."
As for all the things one accumulates in a family home, she offered some advice. For example, fireproof boxes are not always 100 per cent fireproof.
"So, having your important documents in a fireproof bag, in a fireproof box, is even better because you'll have water damage. We lost the majority of our belongings to water damage."
She noted it's also important to know what you have, the proof for which can be easily accomplished by taking pictures of your home, "as is".
"Don't clean your house. Walk into your kitchen, open your kitchen doors, and just snap a picture. Walk into your living room. Do the same thing in your bedroom. Open the closet. Don't worry about taking everything out of the laundry basket or off the dresser for a nice picture. You want to see what you have, because after a fire, you have to write down everything you have and itemize it like, 'Oh, it was a 28-inch TV that was a smart TV, so that's worth more than a regular one'."
Oftentimes, businesses that require memberships will have records that can be accessed to provide details.
"If you order from Tupperware or Pampered Chef or any MLMs, they will have records and they'll print it off. Costco can give you a copy of every single item you have bought since you became a member."
She said their insurance company provided an itemized spreadsheet that was 400 pages long, which she emphasized must be gone through with a fine-tooth comb, adding that important things like birth certificates and even flash drives should go into double-zippered baggies inside a sealed bucket of water in the freezer.