Stephanie Decker's legs were crushed by falling debris as she shielded her eight-year-old son Dominic and five-year-old daughter Reese from the raging storm by binding them together in a blanket in the basement of their three-storey house in Marysville, Indiana.
The children survived the storm unscathed, and after the tornado passed, Dominic ran to neighbours for help.
Mrs Decker, a 36-year-old sleep specialist, lost one leg from above the knee and the other from above the ankle.
Her husband Joe, a school teacher, sent his wife a text message from work, warning her a tornado was heading towards their home.
He got home to find the house gone and the children with a family friend.
Mrs Decker, who is now recovering at University Hospital in Louisville, explained what happened to him by using an iPad.
Mr Decker said: "I was afraid I might never see her again. I told her, 'they're here because of you'.
"I let her know that nothing else matters. I said, 'You're going to be here for your kids, and you get to see them grow up'.
He added: "She said she felt the whole house start to go and then she felt like it moved them about before it kind of wedged her in there, but she was able to keep the kids from moving away."
The home, part-built by Mr Decker and his father-in-law, is now completely destroyed.
It "took about nine months to build and about four seconds" to knock down, he added.
A series of devastating tornadoes have been wreaking havoc across the Midwest and southern parts of the United States
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