A mom broke her back in a daring jump out of a burning building to save her child. Will she ever walk again? INSIDE EDITION speaks to the heroic mother.
A mom struggles to stand on her own as doctors don't know if she will ever be able to walk again.
Twenty-four-year-old Christina Simoes broke her back trying to save her 18-month-old son from a burning building.
This was the 911 call:
Caller: "My building is on fire."
911 Operator: "Get out of the building. Get out of the building."
As flames roared, smoke poured into Simoes' bedroom.
Simoes told INSIDE EDITION, "The initial thought was oh my God I'm gonna die."
She had one thought: she had to save her todler. So Simoes did a remarkable thing. She climbed out of the window of her third floor apartment. Then, clutching Cameron close to her body, she took a leap of faith and jumped.
"I kissed him and told him I loved him and then I jumped," said Simoes. "Once I hit the ground, my vertebrae broke and I couldn't move."
A firefighter on the scene responded, "We got a woman, conscious and alert, she's complained of pain in the leg."
Simoes was paralyzed. She broke the L-1 vertebrae in her back and now has to wear a body brace.
"I have a titanium rod in my back now," explained Simoes.
Tyler Strangeman, Simoes' Fiancé, said, "She's a hero in my book. She saved our son."
Simoes' doctor Paul Liguori, Medical Director of the Whittier Rehabilitation Center outside Boston, said, "The whole time Christina's been here she's demonstrated a little bit of return of her movement and feeling, and that's really the best prognosis."
Little Cameron visits his mom daily. Simoes has one dream.
"I'm going to walk out of here holding Cameron on my own," said Simoes.
