In March of 2012, a tornado ripped through the town of Henryville, Indiana. Stephanie Decker, a 37-year-old mother, found herself in a life-altering moment. As her house began to disintegrate around her, she shielded her two young children with her body. Her dream home fell in, crushing her legs, but because of her heroic actions, Stephanie’s children were amazingly unscathed. It was a miracle that Stephanie even survived and made it to the hospital. At that point, doctors determined that parts of both legs would need to be amputated.

Since the accident, Stephanie Decker has been featured on: The Today Show, The Ellen Degeneres Show, ABC World News Tonight as “Person of the Week,” USA Today, USA Weekend, and People Magazine. She was featured in Successful Meetings‘ list of Most Reliable Keynote Speakers who surpass expectations. She was also named as one of L’Oreal’s 2014 Women of Worth Honorees and nominated for the 2015 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award for her foundation work.

The Stephanie Decker Foundation

Since the tornado that took both of her legs, Stephanie Decker was sure of one thing: She wanted to use her story to help others. At the time of the accident, her story was getting a lot of media attention. Rather than have the spotlight on herself, Stephanie decided to use this as an opportunity to create the Stephanie Decker Foundation to help others in similar situations — especially children as well as those who do not have access to leading-edge prosthetic products.