Elderly woman, toddler survive after being thrown into air

An elderly woman and her great-grandson are injured but thankful to be alive after being tossed into the air by Wednesday's powerful tornado in Gordon County.

Betty Stewart, 79, said she huddled in the hallway of her home with Zane, her 2-year-old great-grandson.

"She told him she was going to cover him up with a blanket, and he said OK," the boy's father, Daren McFarland, said.

In an instant, the walls around them vanished, shattered into a million pieces and were hurled into the sky.

Then Stewart and the young boy were also launched into the air. They flew over some large trees and right into the middle of Highway 53.

A paramedic was the first to reach them.

"They found them in the road. He was going to clear some debris and he heard her yelling for Zane, and they found them," McFarland said.

The house they had been in was completely leveled.

"Good Lord watched over them and protected them from all this, so they'll be just fine," said Matthew Volek.

Stewart has several broken bones and some head injuries.

"She fought the tornado and it lost, because she's still kicking," Volek.

Zane has a severely broken leg.

"He's in a cast from his ribs to his knees. For three months he'll be like that. It's hard to see. He won't be able to lie down for three months, he won't be able to get around or move around. But he's doing good. He's a miracle baby. He was born two months early and he fought through that and now he's fighting through this," McFarland said.

With two family members seriously injured and their house gone, the family has set up a fund in Zane McFarland's name at the North Georgia National Bank in Calhoun.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS OF THE STORM DAMAGE