For four days, I didn’t know if my family was alive – Williamsonpublished at 13:12 GMT
Simpson v Williamson
Image source, Getty Images/Troy WilliamsonTroy Williamson is hoping to travel to Jamaica with a win on Saturday.
The British boxer’s family hails from Jamaica and were badly caught up in the destruction of Hurricane Melissa.
He still remembers the hollow feeling in his stomach as he refreshed his phone again and again, trying to reach his father.
Hurricane Melissa had torn across the island where his father, brothers and sisters live.
“When nobody could get in touch, we had no idea what had happened,” recalls Williamson. “The worst case [was] that they weren’t here any more.”
For four days, the Darlington fighter heard nothing.
He trained and waited, but feared the worst while images of the storm’s destruction spread across social media.
“It felt like a very long time, especially when you saw how bad it was,” the 34-year-old tells BBC Sport.
Eventually, a message flashed up on Facebook Messenger from his father, Gerald Atkinson, who somehow reached a wi-fi signal after the phone lines had failed.
There was a sigh of relief, before reality set in.
The hurricane had wiped out the house and family-run sports bar.
Read Williamson’s full account of his family’s ordeal in Jamaica.
