Buffalo woman saves a man from freezing to death in blizzard

Christmas Eve during the Blizzard of 2022 will be remembered for more than snow. It's the day one woman saved a stranger's life.

 

Author: Claudine Ewing

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Sha'Kyra Aughtry was on her couch inside her Thatcher Avenue home when she heard someone outside scream for help.

A man she did not know was literally freezing. 

"The winds were sweeping him away.  I seen his body and then I didn't see his body. He was stumbling and falling," she said.

Aughtry didn't know the man and was hesitant about opening her door, but she saw he needed help.

"I told my boyfriend Trent, hey, there is a guy outside we gotta bring him in," but she said he wasn't on board right away.

He went outside and had a hard time bringing him indoors because the man was nearly frozen, "Ice balls was on his hands. He was like frozen, his pants were frozen, his shoes were frozen."

She managed to cut a frozen bag off his hands, and get a ring off of his finger as she noticed he was losing circulation.

Aughtry called a family member out of state who is a nurse to get assistance on how to proceed with frostbite and poor circulation due to the cold.

Credit: Aughtry

She asked the man his name and he gave her the number of his sister. It's when she made the call and learned that the man Joe White, known as Joey was from a group home in the area. He was trying to go to work at the North Park Theatre.

Joey ended up staying with the family for two days. She was trying to get help through 911, and the National Guard to get him to a hospital in the blizzard.

Frustrated with no response, she made a plea on social media for help to get him to a hospital. Good Samaritans responded, including former football player Doug Worthington.

Two other men arrived in a truck after seeing the outcry for help and transported Joey to ECMC. He remains hospitalized.

"He said to me in the car and it touched me he said I'm scared. I said I'm scared too and he said am I gonna die. I said we're not talking about dying." Comforted with her by his side, she said Joey then, "looked at me and said I love you and I said I love you too Joey."

Her lifesaving effort has not gone unnoticed. Her name along with her boyfriend's name is now on a marquee at the North Park Theatre on Hertel Avenue in Buffalo. 

A worker there started a gofundme to show her appreciation.

"I appreciate it and my family appreciates it. I was just paying it forward like we all should do," Aughtry said in an interview with Two On Your Side's Claudine Ewing.

Credit: Aughtry

The mother of three owns Heartfelt Cleaning LLC and works for Global Industrial Services Inc. as a janitorial manager.

Christmas morning, Joey wanted pancakes and she made them for him and they watched football.

"He will forever be a part of my family, no matter the color of our skin," she said, "we have to work together."

She saved Joey, tonight at 11 hear from the Buffalo woman who gives us a reason to feel hopeful about humanity during the blizzard @WGRZ pic.twitter.com/lJkFC9QUbY

— Claudine Ewing (@ClaudineWgrz) December 28, 2022

Full Article & Source:
Buffalo woman saves a man from freezing to death in blizzard

Stories of survival and rescue emerge from ‘war with mother nature’ in Buffalo

Amid a deadly winter storm, heart-warming tales spring forth of neighbors assisting stranded tourists and helping deliver babies

Buffalo’s city hall during a snowstorm in November. Photograph: Lindsay Dedario/Reuters

By Victoria Bekiempis  

As the US reels from a winter storm that has killed nearly 50 people nationwide, stories of hope and resilience have nonetheless emerged from America’s hardest-hit region, western New York state.

This storm, which has resulted in 27 deaths around the city of Buffalo, brought hurricane-force winds and nearly four feet of snow in parts of the region, thwarting first responders’ emergency response and rescue efforts. “This is a war with mother nature, and she has been hitting us with everything she has,” New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul said.

But amid the tragedy and deadly conditions, stories of endurance, survival and rescue have emerged. Good Samaritans took stranded travelers into their homes; strangers worked together to help a snow-trapped expectant mother through home birth.

A South Korean tour group, which was headed for Niagara Falls, found their van stuck in the snow outside Buffalo. Two members of the group knocked on the door of a nearby house, and asked for shovels.

The homeowners, Alexander and Andrea Campagna, invited the nine travelers and their tour van driver into their home; the group stayed there over the weekend, departing Sunday, according to the New York Times.

“It was kind of like fate,” said Pyeongtaek resident Yoseb Choi, who was with his wife, Claire, on the tour, and describing the Campagnas as “the kindest people I have ever met”.

The Times quoted Alexander Campagna as saying: “We have enjoyed this so much … we will never forget this.”

A family of six from Williamsville, near Buffalo, tried to get to a hotel on Friday night after losing power, but soon found themselves stranded in the snow. Buffalo airport firefighters rescued the parents Demetrice and Danielle, as well as their four children, who ranged in age from nine months to eight years, CNN reported.

Demetrice and Danielle were the only people among the more than three dozen rescued near Buffalo’s airport who were traveling with small children, so the family got to spend the evening and Christmas Eve at the fire station, per CNN. The firefighters worked quickly to find presents to “make sure Santa paid a visit”, the outlet said.

Births during the blizzard have also shown neighbors’ heroic efforts to help one another. Mark Poloncarz, Erie county executive, said that a snowplow paved the way to bring a woman with a complicated pregnancy to the hospital, where she had a successful birth, Syracuse.com reported.

Some women who didn’t make it to the hospital were guided through births with calls to midwives and doulas. Erica and Davon Thomas experienced this firsthand.

Erica, whose baby was due on Christmas, started to feel contractions on Friday night, as the blizzard peaked, according to the Buffalo News. While Erica and Davon lived just five miles from the birthing hospital, they were snowed in.

Davon sought help from 911, but was told that first responders couldn’t get to them because of the weather. Late Saturday morning, Erica’s contractions were a mere three minutes apart.

His friend logged onto a Buffalo blizzard Facebook group for assistance; a doula was offering to help. The couple and the doula, Raymonda Reynolds, got on a video chat. Reynolds guided Erica and then brought her friend, doula and nurse Iva Michelle Blackburn, on to the chat, according to the newspaper.

Around 3.30pm, with the doulas’ long-distance guidance, Erica gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Devynn Brielle Thomas. “She just looked at both of us … She just gave us a look like, ‘Well, I’m here,’” Davon told the outlet.

Early the next day, a woman called Davon to tell them that her husband, Angel Lugo, would drive them to the hospital in his truck. While Lugo couldn’t drive down their snow-covered street, he reportedly walked to the Thomases’ home, guided them to the truck several blocks away, and brought them to the hospital. “Buffalo is called the City of Good Neighbors for a good reason,” Davon told the newspaper.

Full Article & Source:
Stories of survival and rescue emerge from ‘war with mother nature’ in Buffalo