ST. LOUIS - A horrific Labor Day crash on Interstate 44 in Eureka turned into a frantic rush to rescue a St. Louis woman. Teresa Robertson suffered a number of serious injuries and spent more than a month recovering in the hospital, but it was the selfless acts of many people that she believes saved her life.
"My injuries could have made me paralyzed and I'm not," Robertson said.
Robertson said it is a miracle she's alive after she sustained multiple broken bones in a serious crash on Labor Day. Robertson said she suffered hand and scalp degloving, a broken back, a broken neck, a fractured rib and an injured shoulder. She was in the hospital for more than a month before returning home in October.
"I had six surgeries total," she said.
Robertson’s truck flipped about two or three times after the trailer on the back began to wobble out of control. Robertson's nephew, his friend and her godson were all in the truck. They were able to make it out, but Robertson was not so lucky. Robertson could not breathe while she was trapped underneath her truck. She said that’s when her life flashed before her eyes.
"I was thinking, I'm probably am not going to see my grandson who was born a week ago today,” Robertson said. "Then, I heard so many voices outside of the truck."
Bob Baker and his son Andrew were two of those voices. They were driving westbound in the opposite direction when they saw her truck flip.
"It was the most dramatic thing and violent thing I had ever seen in my life," Bob Baker said.
Andrew, who was driving, swerved over in the eastbound lanes to stop and help.
"We just start sprinting down to that accident," he said.
Bob had little optimism about anyone in the crash surviving, after getting close to the scene.
"When we walked up to that vehicle the first thing I’d seen there was a puddle of blood coming out underneath that vehicle,” Bob said. “[And] I’m like oh my god."
Bob and others had to think quick on their feet to try and save the life of someone he thought could possibly not survive the crash.
"We got to get this thing up. We got to get it up,” he remembered. “Finally got it up and Robertson was out the window and the first thing she said was get me out of here.”
Robertson took to Facebook to find the dozens of people who helped save her life. The post has been shared more than 10,000 times. That’s how Bob and Andrew found her, after a co-worker told Bob about Robertson’s plea to find the good Samaritans who helped in the rescue.
"I just really want to thank them,” she said. “I can't let that go.”
The bond forged between these three will last forever.
"We will constantly stay in touch no matter what,” Bob said. “It might be every labor day she might get a call from me."
Robertson said she wants to make sure she gets a chance to meet all of the people who helped her so she can let them know how grateful she is.
Robertson, who works is a nurse at Barnes Jewish Hospital, has been unable to work since the crash. She said she expects to be back late December or early January. And she said the hospital will welcome her back with open arms.
