Remembering Madison: A family's fight for event safety

All right, 531 now. Who can forget the Astro World tragedy that took place five years ago just this month? Well, today, McKenna Earnhardt spoke to a family who lost a loved one at that concert and their mission to hopefully make concert events even safer. McKenna? Yeah, Anthony, Brian, Michelle, and Ty DeBiskie lost Madison in that crowd five years ago. And they tell me not a day goes by that they don't feel the void of their daughter and their sister. Being gone, they tell me it's just absolutely a horrible feeling, but they've taken that feeling and fought for change throughout these five years. And all that change kind of began when one of their family members came out and hung this photo of Madison up on the fence here outside of Reliant and with the hashtag #PinkBowsForMadison. And quickly that saying and this pink bow and glowing smile on her face went worldwide in a call for change to make sure every event goer comes home safely. Madison was electric. I mean, she lit up every single room that she walked in when she engaged and interacted with you. She made you feel like you were the most important person in that moment in time. Right when Travis Scott came on, I remember like the pyros went off of like the flames and you could feel like the heat of it. Like we were so close. It felt like we were in a sauna. And, uh, that's when the first surge really came, and everyone just tumbled forward and fell. And so I remember I was sitting there, and I was trying to pick Madison up, and then the people in front of us pushed back, and then we got pushed forward again, and I lost her. My mom meets me at the front of the ER, like, room where you walk in, and she was like, she didn't make it. Then I took two more steps, and I heard my dad just wailing, and... that's when it kind of all set in of like oh my gosh she's she didn't make it and I remember I just felt this feeling of like, just drowning. I just kept saying sorry, like I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And I remember eventually I had to say goodbye to her one last time. And I kissed her forehead and her body was just completely cold. Right after the tragedy, matter of fact, the day after, our family, nephews and nieces, etc, had gone out to the makeshift memorial. And had put up a 24 by 36 picture of Madison framed. And had tied a pink bow with the hashtag #PinkBows for Madison that organically and very, very swiftly went across Houston, went across all of Texas, the United States, and then eventually went international. And if the roles were reversed, we always talk about Madison would literally be in the middle of that street yelling and kicking until someone listened to her. Really get to just see the. The positive impact that we're making through this, and I mean, we've gone to lots of events. I mean, we've helped over 400,000 event attendees. Losing a child is, I mean, it's just, it's soul-crushing, right? We know for a fact we're making a difference at any live event that anyone's attending. We have saved lives and that we're making a difference on behalf of Madison, and that's part of our healing process. From major stadiums to major concerts and Wembley Stadium in London, the Dubinsky family continues to train venue operators and first responders to make sure something like this never happens again. And now, today, after this proclamation, not just for Madison, but for every victim who is along this wall here, November will now serve as an annual reminder here in Houston to keep crowds safe. Anthony. All right, McKenna, thank you so much for that report.