Buffalo groans and groans under the deadliest blizzard in decades. In recent days, people have been buried alive under large piles of snow on the streets. They froze while shoveling snow or when they were stuck in their cars. Sometimes people get lucky, like mentally challenged Joey who was found half-frozen by Sha’Kyra Aughtry.
The story of the saving angel is shared on Facebook by the North Park Theaterfor which Joey works, and the local blog sweet buffalo.
The mentally disabled Joey White (64) took to the streets on Friday, despite all warnings from weather stations and local authorities. The United States has been suffering from enormous snow violence for days – so far about sixty people have died – and Erie County, an area in the state of New York around the city of Buffalo, has been particularly hard hit. Anyone who ventures out into the street is playing with his life. But Joey had to go to work, he thought. “He did not understand the true seriousness of the storm,” someone writes on Facebook on behalf of the theater.
The 64-year-old American stayed in the theater overnight and tried to return home last Friday. Outside he became disoriented. He froze and cried for help. Sha’Kyra Aughtry heard Joey near the door of her house and asked her friend to check. Joey was lifted inside.
Clothes frozen
The man appeared to be in bad shape. His socks were frozen to his feet, his pants to his legs, the handles of a plastic bag to his hands. They were cut free from Joeys and Sha’Kyra, a mother of three, nursed the man. She washed his clothes, bandaged his wounds, gave him warm blankets and food.
Still, Joey suffered from his injuries. He was in severe pain, his hands were swollen and blisters had developed from the frostbite. Sha’Kyra called a nearby hospital, but was placed on a waiting list. The weather conditions were too harsh, even rescuers got stuck in the snow and had to be rescued.
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call
Sha’Kyra panicked, worried that help would come too late and Joey’s hands would have to be amputated. She did an urgent call for help via a video on Facebook. “This is what his hands look like,” she says. “We need help. He’s going to lose his fingers. I don’t know what to do. You all should share this video. I did everything I could. I don’t want to be on a list. This man is not going to die here. You must help.”
Her plea was heard. A number of people managed to get to her house in a pickup truck, plowing through the knee-deep snow to lift Joey into the car in a blanket. They drove him to ECMC hospital in Buffalo. Sha’Kyra rode along so Joey would feel comfortable. ,,No one will hurt you, dear.” It was now Christmas Eve.
Care for Joey was taken over at the hospital. He was admitted with fourth-degree frostbite, but is now doing well. Sha’Kyra called Joey’s sister: “Hi, you don’t know me, but I have your brother.” Joey’s sister left the blog sweet buffalo know that Sha’Kyra saved her brother’s life. “What she and her boyfriend did was an act of pure love.”
Read on under the Facebook post
Collection and tickets
Chris Dearing, marketing director at the theater where Joey works, started two fundraisers through Gofundmeone for hapless Joey and one for his saving angel Sha’Kyra.
He also calls, and the blog sweet buffalo, people to send Joey a card. “His sister and the nurses at ECMC want to see Joey smile! Let’s shower him with love and cards! He loves Bruze Lee, the Bills (Buffalo Bills football team, ed.) and the Sabers (Buffalo Sabres ice hockey team, ed.).’
In Buffalo and the surrounding region, about thirty people have died so far from the effects of the snowstorm. At least 60 people have been killed in the storm so far across the United States. Tens of thousands of homes were without power. The local authorities of Buffalo have determined tonight (Dutch time) that it is prohibited to go on the road. The police and the army enforce the ban. “Too many people took to the road anyway. It’s too dangerous,” local manager Mark Poloncarz said at a press conference.
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