November 18, 2009 1:31 PM
- Text
"Steeple Man": Accident Made Life Better
(CBS)
Michael Williams is being called "The Steeple Man" after his car was crushed by a 12-ton church steeple when a tornado ripped through in Shreveport, La.
The steeple landed on Michael's car, pinning him inside. Firefighters worked nearly an hour to pry him from the wreckage.
Michael was badly hurt, but he said on "The Early Show" it was a "miracle" he made it out.
"I think that in the very first few seconds that this happened, a decision was made by a power greater than myself that I was meant to be here -- that I was meant to survive this," he said.
Michael said the first thing he remembers after his car was crushed was seeing emergency workers running toward him.
"It looked like a scene out of a movie," he said. "Their coats were flapping, they were running in slow motion. And they surrounded me immediately. And I knew I was going to be all right from that moment on. "
Michael's wife Judy Williams said on "The Early Show" that this has been one of the "darkest times of our lives and one of the most luminous."
"I've said we've had the worst luck and the best luck," she said. "I am so eternally grateful to God for the miracle, to our friends who have supported us."
Judy said every day she tells Michael he's her hero.
"I'm so grateful that he is still here," she said.
"You're my hero, too," Michael told Judy on the broadcast.
When Michael sees the images of his car and the steeple, he said he remembers how much room was left for him in the car - "just enough left to be curled into a little ball."
"I was protected and shielded from this," he said. "And when I do look at (images of the steeple), it brings it home for me that I have so much to be grateful for. I think that this will change my life. … I'm a lucky person, and I've got a really good life."
"Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith added that Michael is still in 24-hour care, but he's now living at home. In a couple of months, Smith said, Michael hopes to be able to start to walk again.
The steeple landed on Michael's car, pinning him inside. Firefighters worked nearly an hour to pry him from the wreckage.
Michael was badly hurt, but he said on "The Early Show" it was a "miracle" he made it out.
"I think that in the very first few seconds that this happened, a decision was made by a power greater than myself that I was meant to be here -- that I was meant to survive this," he said.
Michael said the first thing he remembers after his car was crushed was seeing emergency workers running toward him.
"It looked like a scene out of a movie," he said. "Their coats were flapping, they were running in slow motion. And they surrounded me immediately. And I knew I was going to be all right from that moment on. "
Michael's wife Judy Williams said on "The Early Show" that this has been one of the "darkest times of our lives and one of the most luminous."
"I've said we've had the worst luck and the best luck," she said. "I am so eternally grateful to God for the miracle, to our friends who have supported us."
Judy said every day she tells Michael he's her hero.
"I'm so grateful that he is still here," she said.
"You're my hero, too," Michael told Judy on the broadcast.
When Michael sees the images of his car and the steeple, he said he remembers how much room was left for him in the car - "just enough left to be curled into a little ball."
"I was protected and shielded from this," he said. "And when I do look at (images of the steeple), it brings it home for me that I have so much to be grateful for. I think that this will change my life. … I'm a lucky person, and I've got a really good life."
"Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith added that Michael is still in 24-hour care, but he's now living at home. In a couple of months, Smith said, Michael hopes to be able to start to walk again.
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