Full Report/Video From Tornado

Aug. 7, 2000

One of the three most severely injured victims of Salt Lake's tornado is back walking in the same park where flying debris broke her back almost a year ago.

Some questioned whether Loretta Orgill would ever walk again. But a year later she's doing much better than expected. News Specialist Ed Yeates has this anniversary report.

Salt Lake City/August, 1999: "AND THE NEXT THING I KNOW, SOMETHING SLAMS INTO THE BACK OF MY HEAD AND PUSHES ME OVER."

One year ago, surgeons used rods and cement to put Loretta Orgill's spine back together again. She remembers walking in Memory Grove during her lunch hour, as she always did.

ED YEATES, NEWS SPECIALIST: "UNTIL TREES STARTED FLYING THROUGH THE AIR, ROOTS AND ALL, LORETTA THOUGHT THIS WAS JUST ANOTHER THUNDER BUMPER MOVING ACROSS THE VALLEY."

But it was a tornado. Now, Loretta walks across this bridge - the very spot where a tree hit her head hard - and her back even harder.

LORETTA ORGILL: "I WAS FACE DOWN AND ON MY ELBOWS AND ON MY KNEEES, AND I REMEMBER BLOOD DRIPPING FROM MY HEAD."

Friends thought she might never walk again. Even then, they never believed she would return and follow the same path where her nightmare began. But Loretta comes back here almost every day.

Loretta Orgill: "I WAS ALWAYS DETERMINED THAT I WAS GOING TO GET BACK TO MY NORMAL LIFE."

But normal now - like Memory Grove itself - is not quite what it used to be. Loretta's physician has set some limitations.

"I CAN WALK AND I CAN JOG. RIGHT NOW I CAN'T JOG, HE SAID, NO MORE THAN TWO HOURS."

She gets a little nervous in storms - especially if triangular clouds start forming.

"WHEN THE ELEMENTS ARE JUST LIKE THAT DAY, THEN I THINK I NEED TO PAY A LITTLE MORE ATTENTION."

Loretta never wants to walk in the shadow of a funnel again - but says she wouldn't mind seeing another one from a distance.

Loretta says when she returns to Memory Grove now, she's more analytical about what happened than she is emotional.