You don’t have to search very hard to find stories of courage demonstrated by a mother on behalf of her children. On the morning of March 2, 2012, most of the 1900 residents of Henryville, Indiana were talking about the local high school basketball coach’s announcement to step down after the end of the season, but that isn’t what they’d be talking about later that night. They’d be talking about Stephanie Decker. Though they didn’t know it yet, the population of Henryville, home of “Colonel” Harland Sanders who blessed the world with Kentucky Fried Chicken (if you’ve ever heard my CD Thou Shalt Be Nice, you’ll understand the irony of that statement), was about to be struck by a category 4 tornado. How strong is a category 4 tornado? Picture a school bus being tossed into a diner. That’s what happened in Henryville.

Stephanie Decker started the day looking out her window at an average spring shower. It had been warmer than normal and a big cold front was headed their way. The chance for tornados was high so when the sky turned dark, Stephanie went and picked up her two children from school early. After they returned home, Stephanie heard the sound of the emergency sirens and saw a twister headed their way. She took the children and headed for the basement of their three-story brick home. As roar of the tornado increased and the windows of her home started breaking, Stephanie knew her house was going to be leveled. She made the decision to shield her two children with her own body as the house began to crumble. Bricks were thrown in all directions and the roof’s steel beams crashed down. One of the home’s bathtubs was thrown over 200 feet away.

Stephanie’s son was the first to climb from a pile of what once was an 8,000 square foot house. He ran towards the neighbors to get help. Back in the basement, both of Stephanie’s legs were crushed, one was almost completely severed, seven of her ribs were broken, and one of her lungs had been punctured.

Both of her children were completely unscathed.

Stephanie had saved them both, but now, she was bleeding to death. Thinking quickly, she made tourniquets for her legs to try and stop the bleeding. Then she grabbed her cell phone and began recording a goodbye message to her family.

But this wasn’t the end for this mother. She survived.

Each morning when most mothers put on their shoes to get started on the day, Stephanie now puts on her legs. She has two prosthetic legs because both had to be amputated after the tornado. She had lost 40% of her blood and faced a year of surgeries and rehabilitation. She conquered both and now deals with what she calls “her new normal.” During the hundreds of interviews that followed after her story was aired on national news, Stephanie was reluctant to call herself a hero. What else could she be called?

Stephanie replied, “I call myself a mother.”