Stephanie Decker Loses Legs But Saves Children (VIDEO)
When last week's tornadoes ripped through the Midwest, Stephanie Decker did what any parent would do: she protected her children. Now the mother of two is being hailed as a hero.
According to Decker, as the tornado approached her home, she wrapped her two children, Dominic and Reese, in a blanket and used her own body as a shield to prevent them from being harmed. As a result, she suffered multiple injuries including broken ribs and crushed legs.
Doctors were unable to save her legs, and she underwent a double amputation at the University of Louisville Hospital. Before being rescued though, Decker filmed a goodbye message to her husband, Joe. Now, however, all four members of the Decker family are safe and sound.
"I assumed I was safe," Stephanie told ABC News in her first interview since the ordeal. "I heard the roar like a train, and I heard it behind me, and I knew it was coming."
"And it was so loud that I knew I needed to do something different. I knew staying put wasn't going to work. I remember the whole thing. I stayed conscious the whole time. I couldn't afford [to pass out]," she explained. "They needed me. They had to have me, so I had to figure out what to do."
Decker held on tightly Reese and Dominic, whom she lay on top of. "Everything started hitting my back: beams, pillars, furniture—everything was slamming into my back," she said on the Today show. "But I had my children in the blanket, and I was on top of them and I was reaching around, holding them."
As the storm tore through the house, Reese and Domini began to scream: "Mommy I can't live without you! I don't wanna (sic) die, please don't let me die!" Decker reassured them: "You're not going to die; we're going to make it."
After the storm passed, little Dominic ran for help as Stephanie could not move. She waited for help but decided to do what she could to help herself in the meantime. "I realized I couldn't get out because I actually used the comforter I tied with them as a tourniquet. I knew I was cut."
Finally assistance arrived and Stephanie was taken to the hospital and immediately rushed into surgery. The entire house was destroyed in the storm, but that didn't matter to her husband Joe. "What I told her was, 'You're alive and you get to see your kids grow up.'"
Decker will still have to go through several surgeries but has already set a goal of walking in three months. "I'm the same person, but I learned a lot," she told Reuters.
