ladonna cobb was caught in the twister that hit oklahoma in may.e talking about storms that had already injured or killed 855 people in the previous 40 years. now even though 25 people died in the moore, oklahoma storm, this teacher's assistant may have saved lives with a risky decision. okay, so tell me what i'm looking at right here. >> this is the beginning of the new briarwood. >> this is where you used to teach? >> correct, this is where the old briarwood was. >> this is where you were during the storm? >> this is where we were may 20th. >> on may 20th, ladonna cobb, an assistant, risked her life to save students, all while the tornado was tearing up her building. >> all of us were saying lord, please, please protect us, let us be okay. >> tornado warning until 4:30. >> most tornadoes hit this area in the evening. >> moving toward moore. >> but this time the forecasters at the national weather service predicted that the storm will blow through earlier in the day. in other words, when the classes were still in session. >> 35 right now, in moore

ladonna and steve bolted inside.hey came to classroom 202, which just happened to be the classroom of their daughter erin in the first grade. >> the tornado precaution is put your hands over your head and get down on hands and knees. >> so i'm a child. i'm like this. what are you doing? >> i am like this over the back of all of them. like i'm over her. and my arms are around as many kids that i can reach. >> so you're not safe at all? >> no. but that doesn't really cross my mind. at that point, i just wanted to put whatever i could between whatever was going to happen and those babies. >> so what did happen? >> at this point it's pitch black. there's no electricity. and big, huge bangs. just bam. bam. which later we found out was cars and farm equipment. and then just a loud, undescribable roar. >> a teacher in another class recorded this cell phone video. you can tell how frightened everybody is. yet, can you also hear the teachers trying to calm the youngsters. >> my knees hurt really bad. >> honey, it's okay. it's

ladonna had the choice, supposed to go to her house closing may 20th.tead, as a tornado was bearing down on the elementary school where she helps with her pre-k class, instead of darting out of the way with her own children she kept thinking about the other kids, and they're in the path of this gargantuan tornado. >> when he came in and he said, get out here now, i knew, my stomach dropped at that moment, just the look on his face and the tone of his voice, i knew something was really, really wrong. and when i came around that building and saw it, my heart just dropped. >> reporter: you actually saw the twister? >> oh, yes. >> reporter: what did you see? >> it was enormous. i could see big, huge pieces of debris flying in the air. >> reporter: could you really? >> yes. it was -- i would say half a mile to a mile at the most away from us at that point. >> that's one of five different people. and this special, we're going to relive some of the moments again with her, for example, as she reveals the unlikely decision that she made that many people think sa

ladonna was just starting to realize the extent of her injuries. >> i broke my cheekbone.this side of my face is still numb. i had a gash in the back of my head to my skull. i had 16 staples. >> that probably scared the kids. >> my middle daughter was screaming. somebody help my mom. my mom is going to die. and i just kept telling her, i said i'm hurt but i'm okay. i'm alive. i'm here. >> amazingly, nobody died at briarwood elementary. but just one mile away at plaza towers elementary, seven children did die. >> i can't even imagine the amount that plaza towers lost. and how hard that is for them. >> today both schools are being built with fema approved safe areas. >> now it's hope, i think, hope of what's to come. >> a good sign for the future. >> would you do anything different that day? >> you know, i wouldn't. i don't feel like i'm extraordinary. i feel like i did what anybody else would have done in my situation. >> wheth >> whether we come back, whether the second bomb went off, i went like this. i looked across. i said god protect me. i went on there. >> the story b