How a tragic story from her past led the ‘true angel in Buffalo’ to save a frostbitten man from blizzard

A “true angel in Buffalo’’ helped save a mentally disabled man trapped in a snowbank outside her home — spurred by the tragic memory of her brother who died there in 2019, her sister told The Post on Tuesday.

Angela Aughtry said hero sister Sha’Kyra Aughtry, 35, heard someone faintly knocking on her door Friday — a scenario eerily reminiscent of when their brother, Darryal Aughtry, 30, crawled to Sha’Kyra’s doorstep after being shot nearby almost four years ago.

Sha’Kyra heard feeble cries for help outside during last week’s blizzard and told her boyfriend to open their door.

There, the couple found 64-year-old, mentally disabled, local movie-theater worker Joey White ailing from severe frostbite, according to social-media posts.

Sha’Kyra immediately thought of Darryal and how she similarly found him on her doorstep after he faintly knocked before succumbing to gunshot injuries in February 2019, Angela said.

“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 Sha’Kyra’s interaction with White.

“We both started crying,’’ Angela recalled of the sisters’ conversation about last week’s incident, which has since gone viral.

“[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.

“Her heart is so big.”

Angela said her sister’s three children, between ages around 5 and 12, were affected by the similar repeat of history, too.

“The kids were asking, ‘Is [White] gonna die like Uncle Darryal?’ They just started crying,’’ Angela said.

She said her sister assured the kids, “No, he’s not going to die like Uncle Darryal.’’

Angela added that her sister’s boyfriend also helped save White in the same way he helped their brother — carrying the man into the home to safety.

Kimberly LaRussa, a blogger who chronicles feel-good stories about Buffalo, posted touching online photos and tweets about last week’s heartwarming incident.

Calling Sha’Kyra a “true angel in Buffalo,’’ LaRussa wrote on Facebook, “A local woman received a call on Christmas Eve, ‘Hi, you don’t know me but I have your brother.’

“The woman’s brother’s name is Joey. He is 64 years old and mentally disabled. Joey works at The North Park Theater so his sister believes he went there Thursday, got scared and stayed over, and then decided to walk back to his home.”

LaRussa said Sha’Kyra found White “so frozen they had to cut his socks off, use a hairdryer to dry his pants that were frozen to his legs, and cut the straps of a Wegmans bag from his hands.”

@KimberlyLaRussa/Twitter

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She wrote that the hero mom fed and cleaned White and washed his clothes, as well as had his family FaceTime him, “which he was fascinated by, to keep him preoccupied from the pain.

“This is such a heartfelt story, it’s almost unbelievable,’’ LaRussa said, adding that White suffered the worst stage of frostbite and was at a local hospital getting treatment.

“God bless Sha’Kyra,” she added.

A GoFundMe was set up for White and another for Sha’Kyra by a man who said he is a coworker of the theater worker.

Sha’Kyra Aughtry did not return a request for comment from The Post on Tuesday.