The maternal instinct is often associated with tender, nurturing care. But given a dash of adrenaline, it becomes an entirely different creature.
Few know this better than Mindy Tran, a Lawrence, Mass., mother, who threw herself under a rolling car earlier this month to save her twin daughters, Saleen and Sydney, from injury.
The 22-year-old mother had just parked her Honda in the garage of her new apartment when it began rolling down the driveway toward a busy street. Unable to stop it, she threw herself under the wheels. A neighbor was able to remove her daughters from the car.
The incident left her with a crushed knee and a dislocated leg.
"I had to use myself as a speed bump to slow it down enough for one of my neighbors to get in and completely stop the car," Tran recalled to the station. "My daughters are my everything, my everything, and I don't want to see them in the hospital, and I knew at that time it was either mine or theirs."
According to ABC News, firefighters responding to the scene were able to use an airbag to lift the car off Tran, who was then airlifted to a nearby hospital. Tran's daughters were not injured in the incident.
Tran, who is using a wheelchair and awaiting surgery, insists she just followed her instincts. "I don't consider myself a hero," she told ABC. "I am just a mother."
Several media outlets have picked up the remarkable story, and social media users across the country have lauded the mother for her brave efforts.
"A Mother's love knows no boundaries," one Facebook user wrote in response to Iowa station KCCI's post about the story. "[T]houghts and prayers are with this amazing mom," wrote another.
WATCH the full report, below: