Awesome - Hero Mom Saves Her Young Kids From A Tornado In The Most Baffling Way
As the sky darkened and tornado sirens went off in Stephanie Decker's hometown of Henrysville, Indiana, she knew it was going to be bad. Wind speeds escalated from a normal storm to a category EF-4 tornado in mere minutes. “I looked up and I saw our trampoline that was staked in the ground go flying across the yard,” she said.
And when the windows of her house started shattering, her survival instincts kicked in. The mother of two knew she was going to have to do something drastic to save her kid's lives. "It was my time to step up," she thought. She just never anticipated "stepping up" would cost her so much.
Approaching Storm
Stephanie and Joe Decker built their dream home in suburban Henryville, Indiana, thinking that they were going to be there for the rest of their lives. However, their dream was cut short in March of 2012 when an unusually strong storm system moved into the area.
On Her Own
When Stephanie got news of the incoming tornado, she immediately texted her husband Joe, a teacher at the nearby high school. With the school on lockdown, Stephanie knew it was up to her to protect her two kids.
No Response
Hunkered down at school, Joe was terrified. "She sent me a text saying the whole house was shaking, and I texted her back and asked her if everything was OK," Joe told The Guardian. "I asked her about six or seven times and got no response."
To the Basement
Meanwhile, Stephanie could see the tornado barreling toward the house, so they ran to take shelter in the basement. That's when she had the idea to wrap her two kids, 8-year-old Dominic and 5-year-old Reese in a comforter and keep them bundled together.
Falling Debris
With the tornado directly on top of them, it began to mercilessly rip apart their home with 175-mile an hour winds. “I watched the foundation separate from the house and lift up,” she said. She laid on top of them, shielding them from falling debris with her body.
Rogue I-Beam
She looked up and saw that a 20-foot long steel I-beam had been ripped loose from the basement ceiling and was falling directly toward them. “I could see it in slow motion,” she said. "I chose to let the beam fall instead of letting go of my kids."
Pinned Down
The beam came down hard on Stephanie, and she knew she was hurt. But she stayed put, determined to stay on top of her kids in the blanket and shielding them from the cascade of collapsing debris.
Screaming Children
"Everything started hitting my back: pillars, beams, furniture, everything was just slamming into my back," Decker told Fox News. "(My children) were screaming, 'Mommy I can't live without you, I don't want to die ...' And I said, 'We are going to make it.'"
Double Tapped
To make matters even direr, after the initial tornado passed, a second tornado followed the first immediately after. It was smaller, measuring at EF-2, but it whipped around the debris left behind from the first one.
Twisting and Turning
With a steel beam pinning Stephanie down by the legs, she twisted and contorted her body to protect her kids. “I’m twisting back and forth taking the brunt of the flying debris," she told People. "I twisted my body and it broke eight ribs and punctured my lung.”
Trouble
After the second tornado had passed, she made sure her kids were okay. Miraculously, they were unscathed. She, on the other hand, knew she was going to need medical attention.
"I was going to bleed out"
"I knew my leg was barely attached or it was severed. I didn't know which but I knew it was bad. If I didn't get help soon, I was going to bleed out," Decker told ABC News.
Across the Street
That's when Stephanie's son Dominic stepped up to save his mom. He ran across the street to what used to be their neighbor's house, to find them emerging from their own storm cellar.
That's A Handy Comforter
The neighbors, seeing the severity of Stephanie's injuries, called for emergency medical attention and wrapped her legs in the comforter to slow down the blood loss. Help came soon after, and she was transferred to a nearby hospital.
Worth It
Her fears came true when she underwent emergency surgery. She would lose both of her legs that day, one amputated just below the knee, the other, just above it. But if that's the price she had to pay to protect her kids, “I don’t even think twice about it.”
Thankful
Stephanie had to learn how to walk with prosthetics, and takes on the challenge like it's her "new normal." She had to relearn how to walk, run, and swim but is thankful that she is around to do those things in the first place.
“There's not anything I can’t do"
“There's not anything I can’t do,” she said. “I drive a regular car, go to the grocery store, work out. With prosthetics, the hard thing is to be patient. Not everything comes all at once.”
Stephanie Decker Foundation
After her physical recovery from the tornado, she made a pledge. She created the Stephanie Decker Foundation, which helps kids who have lost limbs attend a local sports camp. She also travels across the country as a motivational speaker.
Lingering Fears
Stephanie says to this day, her kids are still a little freaked out by tornadoes, and understandably so. “I tell them, ‘I will tell you if a tornado is coming.’ We don’t want them obsessing over it."
Hand Prints in the Cement
Even though the Deckers moved into a new home after the tornado, the foundation at their old home still shows the kids' handprints in the cement, like a symbol of the family's resilience, and insists she's not a hero. “I’m setting an example for my kids,” she said.
Tornados Make Heroes
She knew that, in time of great danger, it's important for people to stand up and make sacrifices to protect those they love.
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