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College student stays positive after losing fingers during tornado

7 years 2 months 1 day ago Wednesday, January 25 2017 Jan 25, 2017 January 25, 2017 5:43 PM January 25, 2017 in News
Source: WBRZ

ST. AMANT – Last week an E-F 3 tornado tore through Hattiesburg, destroying William Carey University where one student lost three of her fingers.

Taylor Gautreaux was trying to get through the hallway of her dorm during the tornado when the door slammed shut, smashing her fingers.

"I just kind of like pulled away and everyone was just staring at me and I felt my leg was wet and I looked at my leg and I was like 'oh wow there's blood on my leg' and then I looked at my hand was like 'oh wow there's no fingers,' " she said.

She said that she was in shock, but people helped her to stop the bleeding until the paramedics arrived.
 
"My RA and resident director wouldn't let anyone go in my room because the tornado was technically still going on. I was aware of that but I still kept saying 'somebody go get my fingers, somebody go get my fingers,'" she said.

Gautreaux said that she is trying to keep a positive outlook and her friends are finding the humor in what happened.

"My friends have sent me funny pictures of me, they're sending me a bunch of the finger emojis and they're sending a whole bunch of finger guns," she said.

Now, Gautreaux warns people to take tornado drills seriously as she feels lucky to be alive.

"That door could have slammed on my head, that door could have slammed on my foot, it could have gone a lot worse," she said.

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