In March 2012, 37-year-old Stephanie Decker’s home in Henryville, Ind., was destroyed in a tornado outbreak that included 140 reported twisters, 76 confirmed landings, and 39 deaths, according to ABC News.
Ms. Decker heard the storm coming and got her son, Dominic, age 8, and daughter Reese, 5, into the basement. As the storm touched down and the house began to fall apart around them, Decker covered her children with a comforter and her body, and tried to find words to calm them.
"My daughter said, 'Mommy, I don't like this,' and I said, 'I know honey,'" Decker told reporters. "I could see the wind. I could see the window blew out and the house burst."
Decker was crushed under the rubble of her home; both children were unscathed. Knowing something was wrong with her legs she tried to use the comforter as a tourniquet while Dominic went for help.
Decker lived, though both her legs had to be amputated. She was later fitted with prosthetics.
