by Hattie Dyck

The nor’easter that hit Nova Scotia on Valentine’s Day weekend, 2015, was one of the worst to hit the area in years. It was one, that but for a miracle, would have taken the life of 72 year old Gerald Whitman. Mr. Whitman left his New Glasgow home about 6 a.m. on Monday, February 16th . The storm was raging at the time but he badly needed dialysis at Pictou Hospital. He wrestled with the idea of staying home but knew that one more day without it would bring him unwanted health problems. So at 6 a.m. he started out to brave the about 18 km. venture to the hospital. The white outs were terrible and after he passed the Michelin plant he took a wrong turn and got on what is known locally as the Loch Broom loop. The snow plows hadn’t yet gone through the loop and the snow was piled high everywhere. But, he reasoned with himself that it wasn’t far and he soon had to be there so he kept moving on. Unfortunately, snow was building up under his car and when he was almost to the hospital the car stopped. It was stuck in a snowbank. What was he going to do? He reasoned that it would be hours before anyone would find him and his car, so he thought his best bet would be to get out and walk to the nearest home. It would turn out to be the longest and most difficult walk of his lifetime.
Mr. Whitman couldn’t open the driver’s door of the car but he crawled out the passenger side and started down the road. The snow was deep and the wind was fierce. Every gust took his breath away and he soon found it impossible to walk any further. He started to crawl on his knees which became scraped and bruised with the ice under the snow. After several attempts to crawl through the snow, stop and rest and crawl again, he gave up. He just couldn’t get up anymore. As the wind howled and the snow swirled around his tired body, he laid down on the road and resigned himself that he was about to die. “I knew I couldn’t last much longer in those conditions,” he said “I made my peace with God. I turned my life over to His will.” Fortunately, it was not God’s will to let him go, and He brought a man he had known for many years to his rescue.
Charlie Parker, a long time resident and retired MLA for Pictou County, had gone to the bottom of his lane about 7:55 a.m. to shovel a spot for his son Jordan to get his car off the highway when he came home from work. As he was working away with the shovel he saw a black spot about 100 meters down the road from where he was shoveling. He knew the dark spot, whatever it was, was on the road. At first, he thought it was a seal, as seals often come across the fields from Pictou Harbor. He went over to investigate and found Mr. Whitman lying there, face down in the snow and unable to move. He picked him up to a sitting position, then got him standing up. He asked his name and was surprised to find it was his former banker.
Charlie wrapped Mr. Whitman’s arm around his neck and together they started up the lane to the safety of his home. It was very difficult as Mr. Whitman weighs about 180 pounds and was almost dead weight. He said there were times he thought he couldn’t go another step, even though his feet were barely touching the ground. When they were about 50 feet from the house, Mr. Whitman collapsed on the ground. He just couldn’t go on. Charlie left him there briefly and ran into the house to get his wife Marilyn to call 911 for help. Then he ran back to get him. When he got back to him, Mr. Whitman said he ordered him to “get up” because he couldn’t have lifted him out of that snow. Somehow, he did, and they struggled to the house.
From then on things happened as they should. They got him warm clothes and offered him warm coffee which he couldn’t hold because he was shaking uncontrollably. And, he had a task to do before he did anything else. He wanted to say a prayer of thanks to God for his rescue. And, he did. The snow plow came and the paramedics transported him to the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow. Then he was taken by taxi to Pictou Hospital for his dialysis as the ambulances had been taken off the road.
Later that day neighbors Billy Muirhead and Danny and Barbara Young got a four wheeled drive vehicle and rescued his car. Ironically, when they went to do that they found another car stuck in the snow close by where he was forced to stop.
Later, when the drama was over, he told Charlie that he’d “been used.” His presence at the foot of that lane that morning was not a coincidence. It was God’s will. And, he is grateful for it.
It was like two miracles in one day for Charlie who says he only did what anyone else would have done, but he had the opportunity to help someone in that position which is rare in anyone’s lifetime.
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