Lacy Frondorf broke down crying when volunteers handed her a mud-caked ultrasound photo of her daughter Willow, a treasure swept 10 miles from her Kerrville home in Texas’ deadly July 4 floods, says an NY Post report.
The 40-year-old nurse thought the framed image was gone forever after floodwaters swallowed her garage. Volunteer Roger Danish discovered it in Center Point while cleaning debris with his mother Marlena Flores, who immediately posted it to Facebook groups.
"Me, being a mother, I know it meant something to her," said Flores, a Berclair firefighter. The photo’s corner showed only "Lacy Ndorf," but an eagle-eyed social media user identified Frondorf within hours.
Three-hour delivery mends broken heart
Marlena Flores’ son and daughter drove three hours from Berclair to personally return the ultrasound to Frondorf’s surviving home – spared only because it sits on higher ground.
During their emotional meeting, Frondorf explained they’d lost all "baby memories" in the disaster that killed 134 people across Texas.
The photo had never been digitized, making its recovery miraculous. "When someone finds an ultrasound picture, it gives you a glimpse of hope, and peace, and love," Frondorf told the volunteers, describing how she sobbed while cleaning mud from the frame.
Her property became a "war zone" where 12 bodies were recovered from the Guadalupe River’s surge.
The ultrasound’s return was aided by Dondi Persyn’s viral Facebook group "FOUND on the Guadalupe River," uniting 20,000+ members to reconnect flood victims with lost treasures.
Persyn, a grandmother who launched the effort while volunteering, treats every recovered item as sacred, whether a toy monkey lost by a grieving Camp Mystic mother or Frondorf’s ultrasound.
"We’re treating everything like it’s the most important thing," Persyn explained, washing clothes and stuffed animals found in debris. Her team sorts discoveries into bins, believing even a plastic duck might be someone’s last connection to loved ones.
As Flores continues weekend recovery missions near Kerrville, she embodies Texas’ spirit: “When one hurts, we all hurt”.
Frondorf sent her 9-year-old daughter Willow, the baby in the ultrasound, to live with grandparents temporarily as their riverside property remains hazardous.
Yet she draws strength from volunteers "giving their time and sweat," like those who saved her pig Mohawk who “swims very well”.
Amidst the devastation that claimed 27 lives at nearby Camp Mystic alone, this ultrasound’s journey home symbolizes resilience. "It gives you a little bit more to keep going," Frondorf said, clutching the picture that survived nature’s fury.
