ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Antoinette Cannon says she was one of the 23 cars that were part of a massive pile up last Wednesday. 

Visibility got so low, she says she hit the car in front of her before she even knew what was happening. 

“At that moment, all I cared about was my kids and that they were safe, because they’re my world. They’re just everything to me,” said Antoinette Cannon.

Cannon loves surprising her children with fun trips, whether it’s Disneyland for spring break or just taking a day trip to Albuquerque. But, last week, Cannon’s day trip with her children ended with her caught in a massive dust storm on I-25. 

“I thought it was just windy, like, really windy. But then, like I said, literally in like a second, you just couldn’t see anything like it was just brown. Like a brown canvas in front of me,” said Cannon. 

She says as she was pulling over when she ran into another car she couldn’t see. 23 cars were involved in the pile up. 

Cannon described the moments after the crash. 

“My two older children, my girls, they were freaking out, they were crying, and they were like, ‘Mommy, you’re covered in blood,’” Cannon said. 

She says she smelt gasoline around her feet and knew she needed to get out. She flagged someone down.

“He got my kids out, and he said, ‘Ma’am, I don’t want to leave you here.’ And I said, ‘I know, but I just want my kids safe.’ And so he ran to my driver door and try to open it, it was completely jammed,” said Cannon. 

Cannon had to climb out the passenger side window because the doors were jammed shut.

“My hand was busted. I think that’s what, so I have stitches in it, I think that’s what majority of the blood was from. My knees are like they were really bad. I don’t know if you can see them right now,” Cannon said. 

Now, days later, she says she’s lucky to be alive. 

“Just seeing my car up close, I just, you know, I just cried. You know, God is real, he protected us,” said Cannon. 

Cannon says her children are all OK. Aside from those stitches, she has a hairline fracture in her hip bone.

She says she will be out of work for a while to recover fully. There is a GoFundMe page up to help the family.