Indiana woman paralyzed after tree falls on car: 'Such a freak accident'

Indiana mother survives tree falling onto her car

          Tonight, a woman in La Porte County Indiana is lucky to be alive after a freak accident. She was driving to work when a large tree fell on her. She is now paralyzed.       Leslie Moreno joins us live with her story. 

LA PORTE COUNTY, Ind. - A LaPorte County woman is lucky to be alive after what her family describes as a freak accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down.

The backstory:

Thirty-seven-year-old Kaity Schultz was driving to work on May 18 after dropping off her 4-year-old son and stopping for coffee when a large tree suddenly crashed onto her vehicle along Fail Road.

"She was probably going 40 miles an hour and then a tree just fell on her," her husband, Chris Schultz, said. "Such a freak accident."

He says the tree struck her neck area and crushed her spine and spinal cord.

Schultz remained trapped inside her vehicle for nearly two hours while emergency crews worked to rescue her. Her husband says she was awake and responsive the entire time.

"That’s the hard part to understand," Chris Schultz said. "If you would’ve done one little thing different that morning, it wouldn’t have happened."

She was rushed to the hospital, where she underwent a six-hour spinal surgery.

Although she remains paralyzed from the waist down, her husband says she is staying positive and showing small signs of progress.

"She can’t feel her legs or toes yet," he said. "She does get some burning warm feelings here and there, so we’re hoping it’s a good sign."

Despite the tragedy, the family says they are grateful the outcome was not worse, especially because Kaity had just dropped off her young son moments before the crash.

They are also thankful for a La Porte County sheriff’s deputy who comforted her while she was trapped.

"One of the sheriffs was there holding her hand the whole time comforting her, telling her it’s going to be all right," Chris Schultz said.

What's next:

The family is now working to transfer Kaity Schultz to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago for rehabilitation and recovery.

A GoFundMe has been created to help cover medical expenses.