Jessica Dicks' girls, Alie, Dailynn and Charlie Photo: CBC
Dicks woke up three weeks later from a medically induced coma with 20 staples in her head, broken teeth, rods and screws installed surgically in her back.
She suffered a collapsed lung and broken ribs and was left paralysed from the chest down. Her doctor told her that she would never walk again.
"All the things that we love doing — things we'll still be able to do, they'll just be difficult," Dicks said, speaking to CBC News on Tuesday when she ventured out of the hospital.
The family is in a financial crunch as neither Dicks nor her husband Jason could work since the accident. “Life is a whole lot of work now,” she said.
Her uncle Monty Major said she was a hero. He has set up a crowdfunding campaign to help his niece's family.
Dicks remains hopeful to stand on her feet again.
"I would rather be paralysed than one of them be dead, or them be paralysed," she said when asked about her sacrifice.
"I'd rather sit in a wheelchair for the rest of my life and watch them grow up normally than be in the hospital with one of them."Jessica Dicks used her body to deflect a 30-foot tree that was falling on the tent her daughters – aged six years, four years and 10 months – were in, reports CBC News.
"I remember running for the tent and then that's it… blank," the 27-year-old said. "Then the tree hit me, and it crushed me."
They were on a camping trip on July 3 at Lawrence Lake Provincial Park, north of Edmonton.
Jessica Dicks' girls, Alie, Dailynn and Charlie Photo: CBC
Dicks woke up three weeks later from a medically induced coma with 20 staples in her head, broken teeth, rods and screws installed surgically in her back.
She suffered a collapsed lung and broken ribs and was left paralysed from the chest down. Her doctor told her that she would never walk again.
"All the things that we love doing — things we'll still be able to do, they'll just be difficult," Dicks said, speaking to CBC News on Tuesday when she ventured out of the hospital.
The family is in a financial crunch as neither Dicks nor her husband Jason could work since the accident. “Life is a whole lot of work now,” she said.
Her uncle Monty Major said she was a hero. He has set up a crowdfunding campaign to help his niece's family.
Dicks remains hopeful to stand on her feet again.
"I would rather be paralysed than one of them be dead, or them be paralysed," she said when asked about her sacrifice.
"I'd rather sit in a wheelchair for the rest of my life and watch them grow up normally than be in the hospital with one of them."
Jessica Dicks' girls, Alie, Dailynn and Charlie Photo: CBC
Dicks woke up three weeks later from a medically induced coma with 20 staples in her head, broken teeth, rods and screws installed surgically in her back.
She suffered a collapsed lung and broken ribs and was left paralysed from the chest down. Her doctor told her that she would never walk again.
"All the things that we love doing — things we'll still be able to do, they'll just be difficult," Dicks said, speaking to CBC News on Tuesday when she ventured out of the hospital.
The family is in a financial crunch as neither Dicks nor her husband Jason could work since the accident. “Life is a whole lot of work now,” she said.
Her uncle Monty Major said she was a hero. He has set up a crowdfunding campaign to help his niece's family.
Dicks remains hopeful to stand on her feet again.
"I would rather be paralysed than one of them be dead, or them be paralysed," she said when asked about her sacrifice.
"I'd rather sit in a wheelchair for the rest of my life and watch them grow up normally than be in the hospital with one of them."