LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Katie McClanahan, a 32-year-old Little Rock mother who survived being crushed by a massive falling tree in April this year, returned to the UAMS on Monday to thank the first responders and medical team who saved her life, but to also call for expanded access to prehospital blood transfusions across Arkansas.
McClanahan was alone in her new midtown home on April 5 when a storm sent a four-foot-wide tree crashing into her bedroom. The impact instantly pinned her beneath the trunk and debris.
“I ran and looked up over my shoulder, and I was instantly knocked to the ground and surrounded by darkness,” McClanahan said. “I just knew I was crushed, and I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t feel anything.”
Severe weather causes tree to fall on home of family of five in Little Rock
A neighbor’s dog was barking non-stop, and when he walked outside to see what his dog was barking at, he heard her screaming for help. That neighbor called 911, bringing firefighters from Little Rock Fire Department Station 12, paramedics, and eventually the UAMS Trauma Team…