A Buffalo woman scrapped her holiday plans to save the life of a 64-year-old stranger caught in the storm with severe frostbite.
Sha'Kyra Aughtry was at home with her boyfriend on Christmas Eve when they heard Joe White, 64, pleading for help outside of their window during the Buffalo's "once-in-a-lifetime" blizzard, per CNN.
Aughtry's boyfriend carried White inside. The man's clothes were frozen to his body, and his hands were covered in ice.
Aughtry quickly went to work to help White, using a blow dryer to melt the ice that was stuck to his body. She started a Facebook Livestream to seek further medical advice after not receiving a response from numerous 911 calls.
"I've called the National Guard. I've called 911. I've called everybody – they just keep telling me I'm on a list. I don't want to be on a list," Aughtry said on Facebook Live.
"I don't care about nothing else," she continued. "This man is not about to die over here."
"I'm going crazy because I'm scared," Aughtry added during the live stream. "I'm starting to see his body change too much from the time that I had him – his body has changed rapidly every hour."
After seeing Aughtry's video, a group of men arrived at her home to help. They carried White outside to their truck and were eventually able to clear a path in the snow to drive him to the hospital, where he is recovering from fourth-degree frostbite.
White’s employer, Ray Barker, said White, who is developmentally disabled, may have gotten disoriented and believed he needed to report to his job at a nearby theater during the snowstorm on Christmas Eve, even though he had the day off.
"He was in a mess," Barker told CNN. "And (Aughtry) clearly saved his life."
White’s sister, Yvonne White, said Aughtry feels like family after she saved her brother's life.
“We were all trying to help each other and it was wonderful,” she told CNN. “And now I feel like I have a sister and three nephews,” she said of Aughtry and her sons.
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