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A Random Redditor Helped Save A Stranger's Life
From Redditor u/junedzaman: My brother got stuck in his car since afternoon. He is near <address removed>. He is running out of gas. We tried our best to reach out to fire department, police and tow companies, but didn’t get any help yet. Please someone help me.
Any help/suggestion would be really appreciated.
A comment from a local about the conditions in the area:
[Volunteer] firefighter here. Our trucks cannot move in this snow. We are getting stuck. We cannot get to ANYONE at the moment. At least 50% of the town's fire apparatuses are stuck somewhere. I hate to say this but if you can contact him tell him help is probably not coming. He is going to have to get resourceful. Knock on doors do something. There is nothing we can do at the moment. We are snowed in the firehall .
Comment from another poster, Spore211215:
I live close by, I can bring some gas and warm clothes possibly. If he’s up for it I can walk him back to that fire hall. I live near that area.
A new post written by Spore211215:
Saw another post on here saying someone was stuck on <street removed>…. Well, I think to myself, “Hey, I only live about half a mile from there. I bet I could help this person” and make the decision to go.He’s been stuck there all day and his clothes got wet from the snow trying to leave so I knew he was in need of help.
So I’m getting myself ready. I grab what little gas I have, I grab some food and water in case he needs any, and some new warm clothes and a blanket for him. Then I gear myself up. I put on some thick hiking socks, sweatpants, a backpack to carry my gear, puffy snow pants, a Hanes white tee, two sweaters, a jacket, a high-vis vest, thick leather winter gloves, insulated winter muck boots, a headband, and a motorcycle helmet to try and combat the snow and wind.
So it’s time to head out. It’s about 11pm, wind gusts are still ripping outside and snow drifts can bring the visibility down to zero. The motorcycle helmet is a mixed bag of being a help and having snow stuck in my face, but overall a good choice. Now let me tell you that going to get this man was difficult. I’m a taller man myself so the snow banks weren’t as much of a struggle for me, but unfortunately when the snow drifts go up to my mid-thigh and every step has my foot drop all the way down into the snow with no resistance… it leads to just walking becoming a big task in itself.
So I’m making my way down the street, and it is difficult. I get that I’m wearing a motorcycle helmet and it’s hard to breath in that, but even when the visor was lifted it was still hard to breathe, not only from the snow constantly blowing in my face but also the fact that it was hard to walk! I’m in decent shape but walking through those drifts is no easy task.
Eventually I make it down my street and a few streets over. Switching between easier and near impossible spots of walking along the way. I get to a[n] automotive business and their building blocked a lot of the snow, which let me walk like normal for once in a long while. I keep tracking but now I’m near a main road without buildings as densely packed so the snowdrifts are blinding at points and I need to focus on buildings and objects to know where I’m going. Eventually I make it to the mans car after a good 40 minutes of walking when I only traveled 0.6 miles.
So I get to the car and give him some clothes because that’s mostly what he was interested in. Didn’t care for any gas or food or water but I made sure to offer it to him to be sure. He changes and gets ready to make the trek himself with my help. After a few minutes he is ready and we’re on our way.
He says he talked with someone and he has a house he can go to to be warm and safe for the night that is about 0.3 miles away. All right sounds good let’s head there.
We make our way there. The man is not well dressed for the weather, but you gotta work with what you’ve got. He has regular sneakers on, his pants and my snow pants I gave him, the hat I gave him, the sweater I gave him and his shirt underneath. He throws a blanket on his head as a kind of protection against the wind and snow.
It’s bad out. My tracks from just a few minutes ago are all but gone, but I know the way I’m going so it’s all right. We walk up the road to the cross street and quickly cross the street. It’s hard to see or hear anything so we can’t really tell if a plow is coming so we act fast to try and stay safe. Then we make it to the side street. Well needless to say that street hasn’t been plowed in ages. Snowdrifts near my chest and no paths available, so time to trail-blaze and make our own!
We need to make it maybe like nine or 10 houses into the street, but with snow like this we are barely progressing at all. I’m dressed for the conditions so I’m only getting tired. The man I’m helping isn’t doing great. Snow is accumulating on his face and he occasionally falls into the snow banks and needs to recover. When we get near houses that block the wind we take a break and relax because we need the energy to make it to this house and can’t give up. Well eventually through more struggles we eventually make it to the house. About 0.3 miles in 30 or so minutes.
The person living in the house graciously lets us both in. I recover by warming up a little bit; the snow that accumulated on m[e] just starts dripping and melting, which I know is a bad sign for me so I make my stop short so I’m not drenched in water on my trek back. The man I helped is very thankful and gets comfortable and warm for the first time in hours. But I can’t stay long so I tell him I’m glad he is safe, thank the homeowner/renter/whoever the man that let me in was.
Now on my way back home. It’s a few minutes after midnight. Made it about a mile in about an hour. Not great but it is what it is. It’s another 0.6 or so miles home. My phone is getting caked with ice at this point but surprisingly keeps working throughout the whole trip without any issues.
Time to make my way back. I can actually see my trail this time so I utilize my previous steps to try and make my walk back a little bit easier. I’m starting to struggle but know I can’t stop. Eventually I make it back to <street removed> and see a front loader messing around with some snow for I’m assuming emergency vehicle traffic. His windows are all iced and fogged up and I can’t tell if he even sees me. I’ve got my mission so I stay the hell out of his way and keep on going. I give a wave and a thumbs-up and keep making my way back home. Cross <street removed> quick because now I KNOW the plows are around so I gotta be out of their way.
Back into my neighborhood. Now my trail is gone but I know where I’m going (or at least I think I do) and I keep making my way. I take a pit stop and call the girlfriend at home and let her know I’m okay and all that jazz so she can relax. Phone call ends and I keep making my way. Snow is blocking up my visor and I have been constantly raising and lowering it this whole trip. Fog and ice is really blocking my vision so I essentially need to keep the visor up to see and only lower it now to catch my breath or block the heavy snow gusts. My progress is really slowing now and my right leg is starting to hurt. Feels like I’m pulling something near my hip… oh well, that’s unfortunately not something I can dwell on while in the streets in a snow storm.
I keep making my way at a severely reduced pace and take a turn onto my street. Unfortunately I was a bit exhausted and confused and made the turn one street too early and realize that about halfway down the street. Weighing my options I decide I can’t really keep going forward here without risking wasting even more time trying to get home. So I back track to where I made the wrong turn and continue on the correct path. Eventually I make it one street further and make my correct turn. I am getting EXHAUSTED and my leg is really starting to bother me. No matter, gotta keep on going.
I hook a left and am on the final stretch home. Foot trail is gone again so I’m on my own for making a path. Snowdrifts are getting bad and extremely difficult to get through. I start counting my paces and can only make between 10-25 (usually only 10) before I need to stop and catch my breath. Gotta keep going. That trails on for a while, eventually I start walking right up against people's houses if the snowdrift made a path to walk where there was less snow. I’m close to home but very very tired. Thankfully for the most part the snow is at least at my back on this path. I keep struggling but can’t give up, I am making nearly no progress but I gotta get home. Eventually I can see my house light but still have little energy to make it there. 10 steps. 10 steps. 10 steps. I’m close, I see the last section of snow to near my house. 5 steps. My leg is really hurting. 5 more steps. Boom, home. I am exhausted and ready to drop.
I make it in the door, girlfriend helps take off all my clothes and backpack and whatnot. I’m caked in snow but stayed warm throughout. I try to take my helmet off but the snow caked onto the back of my head so much that my hair had ice in it that made them stuck together and she needed to melt the ice with her hand to get it off. I have her check me for frostbite and surprisingly there’s none to be found (which I might debate. At the time of writing this my ears [are] still a bit numb and funny feeling, but nothing of much concern here. Almost like the feeling of Novocain at the dentist but to a much lesser extent) and then I relax. She has hot cocoa ready for me as I walked in and I just get to relax now. I earned this hot chocolate.
Mission success, helped a man get home safe and got home myself.
A comment from the homeowner who took junedzaman's brother in:
Thank you Man. You saved the guys life. May Allah bless you. I'm the homeowner who you guys came in. For a second I thought you were a first responder with your [motorcycle] helmet on. Lol. It's a happy ending story. The man stayed in my house two nights. And he headed out ho[m]e this morning. He helped me clean… snow off my driveway before he left. He arrived… home safe. His car is still stuck on the road. Thank you once again
And the response from Spore211215:
You helped save him too! Thank you for letting him in to to stay with you, you're a hero for letting him in. No problem at all.
Update 2 from u/junedzaman:
Last night I made a post to ask for help for my brother who [was] stranded on the snow. After posting I got lots of suggestions and advice. Then from nowhere this man came and offered this help.
Shoutout to this kind human ANGEL [Spore211215], for helping my brother out of the snow in Buffalo last night!!!
This man deserves all the love and prayers and gratitude for risking his own life to help save the life of a stranger. My family will forever be indebted to him, and I just want to help spread his story in hopes of spreading some good news during this holiday season. Please help me in making this local story known, thank you and happy holidays!
