BUFFALO, N.Y. — You can call Sha'kyra Aughtry a hero, a life-saver, but she will tell you "always be kind."
On Christmas Eve 2022, a man, the world came to know as Joey, was outside during the devastating blizzard in Buffalo.
Joseph "Joey White" is developmentally disabled. He was severely frostbitten. Aughtry rescued him after seeing him outside of her window. She saved his life.
"It was just it was so unexpected I didn't expect to bring this complete stranger in my house. I didn't expect for him to be in the condition that he was in, and I also didn't know he had the mind of a 10-year-old, so it's just like God just threw a lot on me," she said.
It was a tense situation.
"I tried to tell people it. It seems so easy, like on the news and everything, how people put it together. And it wasn't like that. It was truly you know I had to go back and forth with my boyfriend about bringing him in. I was going to do it regardless if he was going to help me or not," Aughtry said.
"We brought him in, and when I brought him in, I had him at the door, but then there was a moment when I looked at him, and he's a human being. You know, he's a human being. You got to be nice, because the first thing he said to me was, 'Please don't rob me.' When he told me 'please don't rob me,' I thought that somebody was mean to him. Somebody wasn't nice to him. So what am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to continue to be nice to this person."
Joey is living in an assisted living facility. He has lost "nine fingers, half of a thumb," Aughtry said.
Aughtry stays in touch with Joey.
"He's doing great, all the time Joey calls me, I call Joey, I go and visit Joey. I don't try to be overbearing because I don't want to be a constant reminder of, you know, his trauma, because it's trauma for me too," she said.
"We take a lot of things for granted as humans. We all do it all the time, and I just think this challenge that I went through with Joey, it actually humbled me a lot," Aughtry said.
Her heroism, which she will tell you was simply kindness, was recognized by so many from Warren Buffett to the co-founder of Netflix.
The public donated close to $200,000 to a GoFundMe, established by a stranger in her honor. She has yet to tap into the funds.
"So much love. It's just been nonstop love from people from all over the world world, and I mean the world, not just not the United States, all over the world. I've talked to people from different countries," Aughtry said.
She plans to visit Joey on Christmas Eve.