State fair survivors one year later

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - For those who survived the stage rigging collapse, terrifying sights and sounds are etched in memory.

That August night four friends from Pendleton, buddies since high school, could nearly touch the stage where their beloved Sugarland was set to play. Hailey Padgett-Riley knew something was going to happen.

“I could see the stage swaying. I knew it wasn’t going to hold,” Padgett-Riley said. “I remember saying run. (I was) screaming it and yelling it.

Kendra Stock purchased the Sugarland tickets months in advance as a birthday present for her friend, Andrea Vellinga.

“It was like a war zone with the wind and everything,” Stock said. “Everybody was just covered from head to toe in dirt.”

When the strong storms hit, their lives changed instantly.

Their other friend, Hillery Holt, was under the twisted metal, unconscious when she was finally discovered. Before the storm hit Hold said she remembers a conversation the four had.

“Hailey asked ‘if you could be this close, at any concert what would it be?

And one of the neat things Andrea said, "I’m here --- Sugarland!” Holt said.

But Andrea Vellinga doesn't remember the conversation. In fact, she doesn’t remember anything from that day. On the year anniversary of the collapse, her heart aches for those who lost loved ones.

“Alina BigJohnny and Jenny Haskell,” were the first names she called out. “I can’t help but to think of their lives lost and what their families have gone through. ”

Vellinga’s skull was crushed and she had three broken vertebrae. She was in a coma for months. She still wears a pink helmet to protect her skull. In November, doctors will replace the portion of her skill that is missing with a plastic implant.

The accident left her left arm paralyzed. After multiple surgeries and extensive rehab in Indianapolis and Michigan, Andrea is still adjusting.

“The one big thing, this is doctor’s orders, I can't walk around this town by myself anymore which I always used to do,” Vellinga said. “My left arm is still a mess. I can’t put on a bra by myself … a lot has changed. ”

For the first time she admitted to suicidal thoughts. She struggled every time she would commute from Michigan to Indiana to visit her surgeon.

“I was never brave enough to say this on TV,” she said before pausing. “I realized the severity of my head injury ... and it crossed my mind to jump out in front of the other car in the lane next to us.

But a tearful Vellinga said her friends, family and faith helped her through.

“I finally told my husband Mike and my mom. It scared me,” Vellinga said. “But what has helped me get through that is being friends of the people who didn't survive. I thought, ‘how could I end this because I am inspiring even them,” she said.

Vellinga said while today is bittersweet, she celebrates her remarkable recover and working toward a more normal life.

Her daughter starts kindergarten Tuesday. Friday, Vellinga will undergo another surgery.