>>> and an incredible story of heroism and sacrifice during that massive outbreak of tornadoes last friday. it's about a mother who used her own body as a human shield to protect her children as their house came crashing down on top of all of them. we get her story tonight from nbc's tom costello.
>> reporter: huddled in the basement with a massive tornado bearing down on their new home, stephanie decker had just seconds to protect 8-year-old domenic and 5-year-old reese, so she wrapped them in a blanket and laid on top of them just as the house started coming apart.
>> everything was just slamming into my back. i had my children in the blanket and they were screaming. mommy, i can't live without you, i don't want to die, please don't let me die. i said, you're not going to die, we're going to make it.
>> reporter: when the storm cleared the home had been wiped from its foundation. stephanie and the kids were buried.
>> i took my phone and made a video to my hu*****and -- telling him i love him.
>> reporter: it was domenic who climbed out and ran for help. a neighbor, sheriff's deputy brian lovens came running with friends to find stephanie bleeding heavily with a severed leg.
>> she's like, i'm dying. i ain't going to let you die.
>> reporter: using a belt as a tourniquet they got her out and into an suv for a mad dash to an ambulance. stephanie's hu*****and joe only knew she had stopped texting from the basement.
>> are you okay? are you guys okay?
>> reporter: he rushed home to find this. it was at the hospital he learned of stephanie's injuries. one leg severed at that time kn -- at the knee, the other at the ankle. the kids didn't have a scratch.
>> she's alive and the kids are alive. so i told her, you get to see your kids grow up. that's all that matters.
>> i love you.
>> i love you, too.
>> reporter: at the hospital today stephanie said she's no hero.
>> i love my kids.
>> reporter: one family built on a foundation of love, faith and sacrifice. tom costello, nbc news, henryville, indiana.
>> incredible story out of indiana tonight.
