Woman in car crushed by tree recalls life-threatening accident

When you look at Julie Makuta's blue Hyundai Elantra, you wonder - how in the world did she walk away from this?

Her car was hit by a massive tree in Shaler last week that also came down on a school bus.

“I don't remember the tree falling, I don't remember the crash,” Makuta said.

Her one memory: holding on to the hand of a stranger who came to help.

“He kept me there. It was going to be OK as long as I could feel that hand,” she said.

Julie's face took the brunt of the crash. She has cuts, broken teeth, a broken nose and more than 200 stitches to her forehead.

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But she's alive, and her 11-month-old and 2-year-old daughters were not hurt.

“I look in the mirror and say, ‘That's really bad,’” she said. “But to be honest, if I look this way forever, I don't care. I'm here. I'm safe. My girls are unharmed.”

She's grateful for all the well wishes. But when she looks at her smashed-in car, she's not focusing on the front, but the back, where her children were sitting.

“I think my girls are meant to be here for a long time,” she said. “Destined for great things ... And to be here a long time.”

Makuta said she would like to find the stranger who held her hand to meet him and say thank you.

Cox Media Group