A Buffalo woman has become an "angel" to her community after she rescued a disabled man who was freezing in the storm last Saturday.
Sha'Kyra Aughtry was at her home with her boyfriend Trent when she heard calls for help from Joe White, 64, who was out on the streets in the winter storm that killed 37 people in Buffalo's Erie County .
Aughtry's partner brought the man into the house at 6:37 am.
They discovered that he had his clothes stuck to his body and his fingers covered in ice.
The woman immediately used a dryer to melt the ice and peel off some bags that she had in her hands, as she described it in a Facebook live broadcast.
In the video, which was made on December 25, Aughtry focuses on the man, who has a disability and who had made it out despite the harsh conditions.
He can be seen with his hands swollen and red.
The woman pleads that White needs medical attention and asks for help as the emergency services were putting her on the waiting list.
"I've called the National Guard. I've called 911. I've called everyone, but they keep telling me I'm in line. I don't want to be in line," he said on the broadcast.
Sha'Kyra Aughtry helps Joe Withe.Spectrum News Buffalo via NBC affiliate in Buffalo
“This man is not going to die here
,” the mother of three insisted, adding that White's body was deteriorating.
Emergency services were unable to respond to several of the calls over the weekend due to the severity of the storm that left ambulances and rescue teams stuck in the snow.
Later, in another broadcast, the woman claims that her first Facebook Live "worked" and a group of good Samaritans came to help White and transport him to a hospital.
“You're doing an excellent job, Joe,” Aughtry tells him as they get in the car.
"You just have to breathe."
The man made it to the hospital on Sunday night where he was admitted for fourth-degree frostbite, his sister Yvonne White told CNN.
[These are the images left by the imposing storm that hit a good part of the country]
He is recovering in the Intensive Care Unit and according to his sister, what Sha'Kyra Aughtry did was the work of an "angel" and a "miracle".
“My brother's mental capacity is that of an 11-year-old boy,” he said.
"If it hadn't been for this angel, if it hadn't been for this wonderful, wonderful human being, I would have perished and it would have been another statistic in this storm," White said.
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The woman believes that her brother, who has worked in a local theater for 30 years, became disoriented and left the communal home where he lives that morning, thinking he had to go to work.
"Now I feel like I have a sister and three nephews," he said, referring to Aughtry and their children," White said of the action of the woman who saved her brother.
For his part, Aughtry assures that his family always taught him compassion.
"I just acted and did what I had to do," he said.
