Woman suffered broken spine in Apollo Theatre roof collapse during Belvidere tornado
BELVIDERE, Ill. (CBS) -- A woman who was inside the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere when the roof collapsed during a tornado on Friday is recovering from a broken back, but her family is confident she'll make a full recovery.
The collapse left one man dead and at least 48 other people injured, including Michelle Meyers, who was in the hospital with multiple injuries on Monday.
It was a hard pill to swallow for Kim Meyers once she realized her sister, Michelle, was one of the many victims who was injured the collapse of the roof at the Apollo Theatre.
"It hit me once I saw her," Kim said. "It was relieving to hear that she was found and she was alive, but once I saw her, it began to hit. This is real. It happened to her."
Michelle told her sister Friday night was supposed to be a fun outing with her fiancé, but it quickly turned into chaos when the roof collapsed and fell on her.
"She has 15 staples to the back of her head from debris. We're assuming that either hit or it was scalped up. Her spine was broken in multiple different places," Kim said. "She has 10 broken ribs, and multiple lacerations all over her body from the debris."
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency said tornado sirens went off and the band took a break right before the tornado touched down.
Gov. JP Pritzker added that concertgoers were told to go to the basement for shelter, but there just was not enough time for everyone to get to the basement before the impact.
Michelle told her sisters that wasn't the case.
"That was not even an option for them. They actually were told to not leave the building. So taking it upon themselves to leave and find shelter otherwhere, they were told not to leave," Kim said.
The road to recovery will be a long one.
"She actually wasn't moving her legs at all. Now after the surgery, she's got full mobility. So she is not standing on her own, she has not tried. They're not doing that with her just yet, but we're confident that she will," Kim said.
