It has been just over a week since a deadly hit and run accident in Cary claimed the life of a 16-year-old girl.

Kailee Birdsong was killed when police say her stepmother's SUV was clipped by a truck or van at the intersection of Green Level to Durham Road and Cary Glen Boulevard.

Police still have not found the missing vehicle.

Kailee's stepmother, Melissa Birdsong, spent four nights in the hospital with a shattered elbow and several fractures in her back.

In her only interview with any media so far, she sat down with NBC17's Chris Cowperthwaite on Tuesday morning.

"I'm thankful to have been blessed with such a great stepdaughter," Birdsong said.

If it hadn't been for her stepdaughter, Melissa Birdsong might have never seen the car that hit them as they drove north along Green Level to Durham Road.

"Next thing I know, Kailee -- she was my warning -- she said 'Oh my God,'" Birdsong said. "And she pointed out the left driver-side window."

Birdsong said she gripped the wheel, swerved and gunned the engine trying to avoid the other vehicle.

"I felt an impact. I felt a jolt," Birdsong said. "And then my car started spinning."

Police say the other vehicle had clipped the back bumper of Birdsong's SUV, forcing it to roll several times.

Neither she nor Kailee were wearing seatbelts, and Kailee was thrown from the car.

"I saw them trying to resuscitate her," Birdsong said, breaking into tears.

"She was screaming for the young girl lying on the side of the road," Jeremy Thompson, one of the first people on the scene, said. "I was trying to keep her calm."

Thompson had never met the Birdsong family, but ended up helping them for hours after the accident.

"Jeremy stopped me, and he brought me to my knees and he told me just to try to relax," Birdsong said. "I think I instantly knew Kailee was gone."

Thompson made sure Birdsong was calm, and turned his attention to her 4-year-old son, who escaped the wreckage with just a bump to the head.

"I knew my son was OK because when they got him out of the car seat, my son looked at the car and he said 'Momma you have to fix that car,'" Birdsong said.

Thompson watched over Birdsong's little boy at the emergency room for three hours, until her husband could arrive from out of town.

Birdsong never got a good look at the SUV or van that hit them, and she thinks a traffic light might have saved Kailee's life; but the entire Birdsong family is now advocating most for the simple task of putting on a seatbelt.

"My husband was able to speak to some teenagers at the funeral, and he told them, 'If you don't get anything out of this, please get out of this that you need to wear your seatbelt,'" Birdsong said. "Because things could have been so much different."

Investigators are still searching for the tan or beige van or SUV. Anyone with information about the wreck should call Cary Police at (919) 469-4012.

The Birdsong family has had a rough year; Kailee's uncle, Jerry Avant, was killed in another high-profile situation. A nurse at a Carthage nursing home, Avant was hailed as a hero when he died trying to shield patients during a shooting rampage there earlier this year.

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