Survivor of Haiti quake creates Christa's Angels

MIAMI (WSVN) -- A woman recovering in a South Florida hospital after surviving the earthquake in Haiti is now well enough to head home, and she plans on helping those who helped save her life.

Christa Brelsford said if it were not for the kindness of two Haitian men, she knows she would not be here today, and now she wants to show her gratitude. "I'm still, everyday, I'm so thankful that I'm alive," Brelsford said.

The Arizona State University graduate student is heading home after losing her right leg in the earthquake in Haiti, but she knows things could have been much worse. "When I was trapped in the house in the earthquake, there was one man named Geral, who instead of going to check on his wife and children, he stayed and helped me and my brother Julian, and he dug me out," Brelsford said.

Brelsford credits two locals, Geral and Winston, for saving her life. "Winston was strong enough to lift pieces of concrete that were this big, by hand, and get my second leg free. Then they put me on a motorcycle and drove me all the way to a military base. Winston stayed up with me all night," Brelsford recalled.

Winston, she says, has big dreams of going to college in the U.S. Brelsford described Geral as an unpaid social worker who not only built a school for children but teaches there. Now, she wants to help them rebuild their lives. "And so, working on the long-term reconstruction, I think if we can support the work that the men who are doing these great things, that Haiti would be in a lot better place in the future, and that's what we're hoping to do with Christa's Angels fund," said Brelsford.

Brelsford has set up the non-profit fund, Christa's Angels, hoping to raise enough money to rebuild Geral's school and send Winston to an American university.

As for Brelsford, while she knows recovery won't be easy, she also knows she was one of the lucky ones. "I mean, I expect it to be a challenge. I'm used to running around on two feet. I'm pretty athletic, I ran my first marathon in December, and so it'll be a change not being quite as independent as I'm used to being, but it's temporary, and I'm really thankful for that," she said.

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