FLORISSANT, Mo. — A grandmother saved from a fiery head-on crash in Florissant last month is finally back home after weeks recovering from surgery in a rehab facility.
Martha Ballentine was on her way to church, driving along Dunn Road near I-270, when the driver of an SUV crossed into her lane and crashed into her.
"I had the strangest feeling that I was gonna die,” Martha said. "Because he was coming straight for me, he was coming so fast, I couldn't do anything."
She says she remembers the impact.
"When I opened my eyes, then I saw the fire and the smoke,” she said. "I knew I had to get out, and at that very moment, that's when Aaron knocked on my window."
The wreck happened right in front of Aaron Jacobs’ house.
"So my first instinct was to get her out of the car as fast as I could,” he told us in September.
He didn't spare a second, pulling Martha from her burning Kia.
"I just said thank you Jesus,” Martha said.
Martha had to have surgery for broken vertebrae, and she spent weeks recovering in a rehab facility.
She saw Aaron Tuesday for the first time since he tracked her down in the emergency room the night of the wreck.
There was no hug too tight for the man who saved her life.
“I just can't stop saying thank you, I just can’t,” Martha said.
“I appreciate it, but you don't have to thank me,” Aaron said.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you. I wish more people were like you Aaron,” Martha said.
Martha’s purse – along with her cell phone, driver’s license and credit cards – burned to ashes inside her car. She’s still working on getting replacements for all of it. Her friends are driving her to doctors’ appointments in the meantime.
Aaron says he’s a big believer in karma. He landed a new job the day after he saved Martha.
