A Texas mother who shielded her baby from injury as they fell from a bridge after a vehicle crash lost one of her legs and faces a long recovery.
Jennifer Duncan was driving her 8-month-old son Daniel to day care on a freeway in Waco last week when she got into a minor crash, Waco television station KXXV reported.
But as Duncan, 23, and her son waited outside of their car for help, alongside the driver of the other car, another collision occurred.
“Another vehicle had stopped to shield them from oncoming traffic. She was standing in front of that vehicle on the shoulder when that vehicle was rear-ended,” family attorney Jonathan Stark said at a news conference.
The vehicle knocked Duncan and her son, as well as the other driver, 25-year-old Ashley Michelle Anderson, off the bridge.
They fell 30 feet to the street below.
“I just remember praying, ‘God, please don’t let my baby die.’ It was the scariest thing you can possibly imagine. I’m just thankful my son is still alive,” Duncan said in a press release, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald.
The two women were severely injured, but Daniel received just a scratch.
“Jennifer created a human cocoon around Daniel and shielded him from the impact of the fall,” states a blog created to document their story. Duncan had shielded him from the impact.
“Jennifer is a remarkable young lady and that she was able to … whether by instinct or conscious decision, totally forgo her own safety to protect that baby, is remarkable,” Stark said.
Duncan’s leg was severed below the knee, KXXV reported. She has already had four surgeries, according to the station.
She suffered a shattered pelvis and internal injuries.
Anderson was listed in good condition as of Wednesday, the Herald-Tribune reported.
A blog has been set up, as well as a GoFundMe account, for those interested in following her family’s story, or contributing to t recovery.
The GoFundMe page, created Tuesday, has brought in more than $5,000 as of Friday afternoon.