Tenn. Mom 7 Months Pregnant with Twins Jumps from 2nd Floor Window to Escape House Fire

An expectant mother is recovering in the hospital after jumping from a second-floor window of her burning Tennessee home.

On the afternoon of Monday, Sept. 15, Katie Barker, who is seven months pregnant with twins, woke up to a fire inside her Soddy-Daisy home, Cleveland 19 and Local 12 reported. Trapped on the second floor of the three-story house, she had to make a quick, life-saving decision.

“It was either risk breaking bones or plan a funeral,” Barker said, per Cleveland 19. “I have an older daughter, a 6-year-old, and then two little boys that are in my belly that are counting on me, and I couldn’t leave my husband, so I didn’t.”

“I just kind of leaned out the window on my side, and I landed on my knee and my hip and my back,” she added, recalling the moment she jumped.

Soddy-Daisy police officers tried to help Barker land safely when they arrived. They then rushed into the fire to rescue her father-in-law, who uses a wheelchair.

“As soon as I told the officers, without hesitation or any kind of protection, they ran into the basement, to the den, the bottom, and they got him out,” Barker said of her father-in-law, per Local 12.

According to a GoFundMe set up to support the family, Barker “sustained substantial injuries” escaping the fire, including a “broken pelvis, compressed vertebrae and severe smoke inhalation.”

Doctors have assured her that her twins are fine despite the fall and said she could begin physical therapy within days, ABC affiliate News Channel 9 reported.

All the people inside the house escaped safely, but their three pet cats did not survive. The cause of the fire is unconfirmed, but the GoFundMe page suggests it may have been an electrical fault.

The fundraiser has exceeded its $8,000 goal, with donations helping cover medical bills and replace items lost in the fire.

“Every building, rewiring, everything that was in the kitchen was completely – it’s ashes now,” Barker said, per ABC affiliate News Channel 9.

The Soddy-Daisy Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Monday, Sept. 22.