Saved from death
. . . but frostbitten man loses fingers
A mentally disabled Buffalo man who made national headlines when a kindhearted stranger saved him during the city’s deadly Christmas Eve blizzard has lost all of his fingers to frostbite.
Joey White, 64, underwent several surgeries to treat his severe fourth-degree frostbite, but doctors couldn’t save his fingers, his kin said.
“He was so frozen,” Sha’Kyra Aughtry, the good Samaritan who found White on her doorstep and brought him inside, told CBS News last week. “He had ice, literally ice balls, around his hand,” she said.
Surgeons were eventually forced to remove nearly all of Joey’s fingers, including his knuckles. He has one thumb remaining, his sister said.
Joey has the mental capacity of a 10-year-old and lives in a group home several blocks away from Aughtry’s house, his sister said.
That morning on Dec. 24, he apparently got scared during the record-breaking winter storm, which was ravaging western New York and eventually left more than 30 people dead. He walked to a movie theater, where he has worked as a custodian for 40 years, but got caught in the cold when he was headed home. It’s unclear how long he was stuck outside before he ended up on Aughtry’s doorstep.
In the middle of the treacherous storm, Aughtry heard banging and cries for help and asked her boyfriend to open the door. The situation moved her to tears, as it was eerily reminiscent of when her brother, Darryal Aughtry, 30, crawled to her doorstep after being shot almost four years ago, Aughtry’s sister Angela told The Post last month.
“She was like, ‘You know, that’s like the equivalent to our brother passing away’ — she can’t have that happen again,’’ Angela, 32, said of her sister’s interaction with White.
“[Sha’Kyra] said everything got replayed . . . . How she heard [White] crying outside the door and she couldn’t leave him out there because the same thing happened to our brother.
“She said if Joey was left out there any longer, he could have froze to death,’’ Angela said.
After bandaging Joey’s severely frostbitten hands, Aughtry called 911 again and again, but severe weather conditions made it impossible for first responders to reach them.
As a result, Joey spent Christmas Day with Aughtry. By nighttime, Aughtry was in a panic. She pleaded on social media for someone to help them get Joey to the hospital. Thirty-six hours later, they made it to the emergency room, where Joey underwent several surgeries.
Yvonne White said the kindness of Aughtry and her boyfriend saved her brother’s life.
“To see the compassion and the love with two strangers . . . is just amazing,” White said.