Hero mom, Stephanie Decker, loses legs saving kids from tornado

A mother in Indiana lost both her legs shielding her two young children from a deadly tornado that ripped through their home last week.l

Stephanie Decker, a 36-year-old sleep specialist, lost one leg from above the knee and the other from above the ankle, said her husband, Joe. She was in serious but stable condition at a Kentucky hospital, The Associated Press reported.

Decker saved her 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter by binding them together with a comforter and laying on top of them as their home in Clark County, Ind., began to disintegrate around them Friday, ABC News reported.

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"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, please don't let me die.' And I said, 'We are not going to die, we are going to make it.' "

Decker was crushed under the cascade of debris, although her children miraculously escaped unscathed, AP reported.

"I remember the whole thing," Decker told ABC. "I stayed conscious the whole time. I couldn't afford [to pass out]. They needed me. They had to have me, so I had to figure out what to do. And my son is a hero. He went to get help."

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Decker's son, Dominic, ran across the street after the twister passed to seek help from neighbors, who had taken refuge in a storm cellar, Decker's husband told the AP. A deputy sheriff soon arrived and applied tourniquets to Decker's legs to stop her blood loss.

Decker was scheduled to undergo surgery again Thursday, hospital spokeswoman Holly Hinson told the AP.

"The house is gone. It's pretty amazing that she's alive," Hinson said.

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