Saved: Dashed Wedding Plans in Tornado's Wake

How "World News" viewers saved one tornado victim's wedding dress and dreams.

ByABC News
May 27, 2008, 7:28 PM

PARKERSBURG, Iowa, May 27, 2008— -- On Tuesday, "World News With Charles Gibson" reported on tornado victim Kiley Jansen, 21, from Parkersburg, Iowa, who was going to get married but lost her wedding dress when her house was blown away. "World News" viewers watched the story and immediately came to the rescue.

Amanda from Florida wrote to ABC News, " I have that same dress, just got married, and am willing to donate it to her for her wedding. … I grew up in the Midwest and know what the tornadoes are like." Corrine from Virginia told us, "Even though in the end it is the marriage that counts more than one day, it is still a day to be treasured. Every woman should have the dress of her dreams. Please let me know how to help her."

Sandy Kaminsky, a former ABC central division senior account executive, was also watching from her hospital bed as she battles ovarian cancer. She and her husband, Ron, from Chicago got in touch with Kiley in Iowa and ordered her a brand new dress -- the very same one that she'd lost -- and Sandy said that she is finding wonderful joy in giving Kiley her "one thing" back.

On every devastated block in Parkersburg, Iowa, in every decimated home, there is a search underway for one thing.

For Kiley Jansen, that one thing was the wedding dress she was going to soon wear down the aisle.

"I'm not going to be able to get married in September, but I guess all that matters is [my family is] all OK," Jansen broke down on yesterday's broadcast.

On Sunday, when the storm hit, the dress was hanging in a closet on the top floor of her parents' home in a room that no longer exists.

"The closet's gone. My bridesmaid shoes, the flower girl dress, all my centerpieces," she said. "I'm not sure [I will be able to get married]. We haven't really talked about it because I'm more worried about getting my parents out of here."

Her mother said she would have grabbed the dress if she had gone upstairs when the tornado warning came, but she didn't expect her home would be completely destroyed.