In just a month, so much has changed for Hesbeidy Rodriguez.
"Everything has been painful for my family because they say, 'Mama, what happened to your leg? What happened right here?"
The married mother of two who was once active, now sits restricted in a wheelchair today.
Her left leg amputated and her pelvis crushed.
Just a month ago, during the first snowfall of the season, Rodriguez says the family car broke down on I-80 and 480 interchange.
“My husband called a friend to come pick [us] up,” she said.
They called Miguel Ramirez, 28.
In the meantime, her husband moved their young children to another car.
As Rodriguez and Ramirez switched cars, drivers flew by and that's when police say Vicente Loera-Salina crashed into the two.
“We can't run. We can't do anything and I don't feel nothing at all,” she said.
The day, a blur, but some things remain clear: like snow falling on her face; drivers stopping to either record the crash or help; and her children crying in shock.
“I felt my leg is hurt and Miguel is next to me. He can only say, 'Help me,' and he say, 'Everything is going to be OK.' But I hear my husband screaming,” she said.
Crews rushed them to Nebraska Medicine.
Multiple surgeries late and still more to come, Rodriguez said healing comes in different forms like family.
“They always say, 'I love you, Mommy,” she said.
Rodriguez added that she has daily conversations with God.
“I don't know why this happened to me and I don't want to ask you. But if you give me this thing. I want you to help me.”
Rodriguez is also asking for forgiveness for Loera-Salina, who police cited on four charges.
“Everybody makes mistakes,” she said. “So, I don't want nothing to happen to him.”
For now, she says she's thankful to friends and strangers who helped her and Ramirez.
What the year 2016 took from her, Rodriguez said she hopes to regain in 2017 with a prosthetic leg.
In efforts to raise more funds, family and friends of Ramirez and Rodriguez opened two GoFundMe accounts. If you'd like to donate to their funds, click hereor here.
