SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane’s Sandy Zimmerman is well known in Spokane as the first mom ever to hit the buzzer on American Ninja Warrior.
This week she was away filming for the upcoming American Ninja Warrior season when she got a FaceTime that initially rocked her world.
"He goes, 'Well, I have something to tell you, but you’re probably not going to believe me, so I’m just going to show you,'" recalled Zimmerman.
Spokane's windstorm on Sunday nearly took down the famous Ninja Fortress in Sandy and Charlie Zimmerman’s backyard as a tree in their backyard fell right into it.
"I was on my deck when it fell and I’m just looking up at the trees and I’m thinking, ‘That is moving.’ Within ten seconds, I start hearing this crunch. It was loud. I screamed a couple things that I can’t say on air," said Charlie.
That same night Sandy was slated to compete on American Ninja Warrior, so Charlie and his kids decided to keep the large immovable object in their backyard a secret.
The next morning though Charlie had to break the news to his wife.
"I just started to cry. That’s our heart and soul that we have poured into this fortress. We watch lives be changed back to here so to see that be covered by a 50-foot spruce was devastating," said Sandy.
Thankfully the family quickly discovered on Monday that maybe it would be okay.
"We started crawling around underneath, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh.’ There was some parts that were still intact. It wasn’t completely demolished as you can see," said Charlie gesturing back to the fortress.
Their hopes were affirmed when a tree cutting crew came out a few days ago.
The trunk of the tree had mostly missed the structure.
It’s not currently safe to use as there’s still some cracks and bent polls, but all and all, it could’ve been much worse.
"We’re going to be able to salvage it, and not only just salvage it, but make it even better. I just feel like this is a theme in my life. Taking something that happens, a tragedy, and make it something positive and good," said Sandy.
Sandy has survived a lot in her life, including sexual and physical abuse as a child.
Thankfully this time, she’s hardly going it alone.
"I feel like that only happens here," said Sandy of the outpouring of support. "People want to know, ‘What can I do? What help do you need?’ People are offering to bring dinners. People are offering, ‘I’ve got a ladder, I’ve got a screwdriver, I’ve got bolts, what do you need?’ That’s what’s so incredible about the ninja community and also Spokane."
Sandy hopes to have her backyard semi up and running by May 3rd, but she knows a full repair will take months to happen.
She's hoping to do a grand re-opening once the Ninja Fortress is all finished to show people where their money and donations were put to work.
No matter the state of the Ninja Fortress though, whenever Sandy is able to get back out there to train and teach classes to kids, her husband knows one thing.
"She’ll be grinning ear to ear," said Charlie.
