This Hero Mom Cheated Death and Saved 3 Kids From a Tornado Then 1 Year on a Miracle Happened

This hero mom cheated death and saved three kids from a tornado then one year on a miracle happened Teacher Karen Marinelli is huddled on top of her three young students She can feel the deadly force of the raging tornado that surrounds them pushing at the school's walls And she knows they won't hold for long. She tries to think of another way out of this mess, but it's useless. They're trapped Instead she shields the boys with her own body as best she can then the brick wall begins to tumble down over them Before that dreadful day in May 2013 However, Karen Marinelli was working as a teacher of a first-grade class at Plaza Towers Elementary in Moore, Oklahoma She was also a busy mom to four lively boys and a wife to her husband Dominic Needless to say Marinelli loved her job and she cared for her students as much as she did her own children But on the day of Morris tornado that devotion will be put to an incredible test The tornado touched down on May 20th 2013 at 2 46 p.m It was intensely violent and incredibly destructive and it wrought a trail of devastation some 17 miles long What's more the tornado generated wind speeds of up to 210 miles per hour and notched up a maximum five rating on the EF scale? Plus by the time it had run its course almost an hour later It had obliterated more than a thousand homes and caused death and destruction across more and its neighboring towns Sadly 24 people lost their lives more than 350 people were injured and around 2 billion dollars worth of damage was caused to the city Indeed it transpired to be the deadliest tornado to hit the United States in two years And the teachers and students of Plaza Towers Elementary were directly in the path of this incredible danger So following procedure they headed for cover in the designated areas Consequently Marinelli found herself with three six-year-old boys in her care But as Liam Damien and Dakari looked to her for reassurance. She realized the full extent of the danger They were all in Marinelli recalled in an interview with Oklahoma's News Channel 4 that she was thinking it's going to hit it's going to hit I can't believe it's really going to hit The thought process led her to text her husband to tell him that she loved him Then she braced herself to shelter the three young boys with her own body Indeed as the full force of the tornado crashed into the school. She did everything she could to protect her students from harm Liam later described the terrifying ordeal and Marinelli's selfless actions to Oklahoma's News 9 The roof came off and bricks were falling on top of us He said my teacher laid on top of us and jumped on top of us and was saving us At one point however a 2,000 pound car was thrown through the building knocking down a wall and crushing Marinelli beneath the rubble In fact when rescuers finally arrived, they found the teacher pinned down with the three children still safely huddled beneath their body Some of the other students that day tragically weren't so lucky Indeed seven students at Plaza Towers Elementary sadly lost their lives as a result of the tornado But thanks to Marinelli's actions Liam Damien and Dakari escaped unhurt However, Marinelli's astonishing bravery did come at a cost Following her rescue Marinelli was taken to hospital with serious injuries including a broken back a crushed pelvis and fractured ankles Later after eventually being discharged. She was confined to a wheelchair for several months and Although Marinelli was able to return to work with her beloved students She found the experience of using a wheelchair a physically challenging one Indeed as she explained in news 9, I just can't do normal things like walk across and grab something So Marinelli must have been relieved when three months after the tornado. She was finally able to leave her doctor's office on her own two feet Furthermore, she was expected to make a full recovery with continued physiotherapy But that's not where the story ends That's because while Marinelli was in the hospital the community of more had rallied round in support In fact a crowdfunding campaign led by the mother of one of the boys whose life Marinelli had saved raised more than $7,000 to help with a recovery and The publicity that Marinelli's heroic sacrifice had garnered meant that strangers from all over the country were soon sending care packages to her door In one package, for example, Marinelli was surprised to discover a bundle of baby girls clothes Bemused the mother of four boys tucked them to one side and planned to donate them at a later date That is until an unexpected revelation made her change her mind Indeed soon after that package had arrived the Marinelli family received some stunning news Marinelli was pregnant with her fifth child What's more the baby's due date was May 20th, 2014 Exactly one year after the deadly tornado had torn through their hometown Marinelli told local news station ko co Since it wasn't something that we planned. It wasn't something that we tried for and we were just given it We feel like God gave us a blessing Then on May 8 2014 Lily Claire Marinelli was born for her mom The little girl was a welcome touch of happiness after a year filled with such tragedy and pain. I Feel like she's my reward. She said at the time I always wanted a little girl and I feel like she's just my gift You