Georgia couple back on feet after jumping out window of burning vacation home

ATLANTA - When Justin McLarty arrived at the Shepherd Center on February 28, 2023, he was unable to stand up, or even move from the waist down. His therapists asked the Carollton accountant and father of three to set a goal for himself.

"I was, like, ‘I want to be able to walk back in my house and hug my kids,’" McLarty said.

Jamie McLarty, Justin wife, a Kaiser Permanente nuclear medicine technologist, had the same thing in mind.

"She has said from day one, she's going to walk out of here," her husband said. "She didn't care what anybody else said."

And for 46 days, the couple, with nearly identical spinal cord injuries, have been working to get back on their feet, focusing on returning home to 7-year-old Rhett, 9-year-old Knox, and 6-year-old Quinn.

That has been their goal since a mid-February weekend getaway changed everything.

"We rented an Airbnb at Serenbe for a friend's birthday," Jamie McLarty said. "There were six of us there."

Saturday night, they posed for a photo at a nearby restaurant, then tucked in for the night.

The McLartys were in the bedroom on the third floor.

Saturday night, they posed for a photo at a nearby restaurant, then tucked in for the night.

The McLartys were in the bedroom on the third floor.

When they woke up at 8 a.m. the next morning, the house was on fire.

"I'll never forget that noise, that roar of the fire," Justin McLarty said.

"We could not get out of our bedroom," Jamie McLarty remembers. "The stairs were already starting to melt, so we couldn't get down the front staircase."

"I'll never forget that noise, that roar of the fire," Justin McLarty says.

"We could not get out of our bedroom," Jamie McLarty remembers.  "The stairs were already starting to melt, so we couldn't get down the front staircase."

The fire, believed to have started on the backside of the house, was now all around them.

"We finally got the bathroom window open, and that was our only choice," Jamie McLarty says.  "We could hear the floors beneath us crackling. "

Jamie jumped first, landing on some drainage rocks.

"As soon as I hit the ground, I instantly couldn't feel anything from my waist down."

Justin does not remember jumping.

The fire, believed to have started on the backside of the house, was now all around them.

"We finally got the bathroom window open, and that was our only choice," Jamie McLarty said. "We could hear the floors beneath us crackling."

Jamie jumped first, landing on some drainage rocks.

"As soon as I hit the ground, I instantly couldn't feel anything from my waist down," she said.

Justin does not remember jumping.

Both in agonizing pain, Jamie was airlifted by helicopter and Justin taken by ambulance to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

Scans showed both had what is called a burst fracture of their L1 vertebrae, where the bone was broken in multiple directions.

"It's terrifying, when you are helpless," Jamie McLarty said. "You can't feel from the waist down."

In back-to back-operations, the same surgeon fused four of their vertebrae to stabilize their spines.

Later, in the ICU, Jamie worried about their kids.

"(I wondered) Just where were they, and what have they been told, and when was I going to get to see them," she said.

After nine days at Grady, the McLartys were transferred to Shepherd Center, both still unable to move their legs.

"It was very humbling, and just a very scary feeling," Jamie McLarty said.

They would be here for more than six weeks.

"We're in therapy all day," Jamie McLarty said. "I mean, six, seven hours a day, every day. We just get up and push ourselves."

The first time Jamie came to Shepherd's "I Can" studio, she practiced cooking in a wheelchair.

"And, it was terrifying to think that that was how I would have to do it," she said.

Today, she on her feet, baking chocolate chip cookies with her occupational therapist Kevin Li as one of her final assignments.

Justin McLarty and his physical therapist Don Archer have been working on improving his gait and balance, as he tries to build strength in his left leg.

The first time Don asked him to take a few steps on his own, without the harness, he balked.

"I didn't think I could do it," he said. "I was like, 'I can't, I can't walk!' And, finally, I let go. And sure enough, I could, I could walk by myself."

With family taking care of their kids, who visited once a week, the McLartys were able to focus their energy on their recovery.

Now nearly two months after the fire, they have been cleared to go home.

A friend videotaped as the couple arrived back at their Carrollton home, hugging their children.

"I know God was with us every step of the way," Jamie McLarty said. "The amazing people at Shepherd, they really were the hands and feet of God and pushed us and knew what we needed to hear and do. This place is amazing."

The McLartys will continue their physical therapy near their Carroll County home.

But they will always be grateful for their team at Shepherd Center.

"They gave us our life back," Jason McLarty said.