Susan Saint James

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When Susan arrived at the small hospital where Dick and Charlie were being treated, doctors told her they would have to be transferred to a larger hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado. Even though the crash site was near the hospital, Susan says she didn't stay to look for Teddy.

"I just went," she says. "I just left—I left the crash. I left Teddy. I left everything, and I went. I said to somebody later, 'Why would I do that? Why wouldn't I go back to the crash and look for Teddy?' And they said, 'Because instinct is to follow the living—to go with the living.' And the minute I saw Dick he said, 'Teddy's gone. He's gone.' Even though I had held out hope."

Susan says that she always thought if she lost a child, she would "sit down in a chair and never talk again." But, now she says, it just doesn't work that way. In fact, within days of losing Teddy, Susan sat down with NBC's Tim Russert to talk about the tragic accident and thank people for their outpouring of support.

"All I could think [was], 'People are going to be so sad for me,'" Susan says. "You want to make them feel better. It's exhausting sometimes, actually in the early months, because you are trying to make everybody feel better. And then people will say to you, 'What are you doing for you? Now I know you've taken care of your kids and your husband and your life, but what are you doing for Susan?' You know, that isn't even in the nature of a mother."