AN elderly Cockfield woman and her family have thanked the kind-hearted heroes who saved her life during Storm Arwen.
Doris Teasdale, 86, says she “wouldn’t be here today” if her rescuers hadn’t found her face down in the snow, a third of a mile from her home, in the early hours of Saturday, November 27.
Mrs Teasdale said when the power went out at her home in Comer Terrace, she went outside to investigate but became “turned around” in the total darkness, unsure of how to get home.
She said: “I don’t really remember much about what happened, but I wouldn’t be here if those lads hadn’t found me.”
She was found face down in the snow outside the workingmen’s club by Jamie Clarke, Dale Atkinson and Matty Howe, who were using a mobile phone torch to guide their way home.
Daughter Kathleen Weston, who lives next door, said: “She was found between 1am and 1.30am. Two of them picked her up and carried her to Dale’s house. They wrapped her in blankets to get her warm as she was blue, then rang an ambulance and kept trying to talk to her as she wasn’t responding.”
She added: “I knew nothing until four in the morning when I got a phone call from Darlington Hospital to say they had my mum. I had gone out so when I came back, I just thought mum was in bed.”
Mrs Teasdale, who has grazed knees, feet and hands as well as bruising to her arms and face, was kept in hospital until Sunday.
“We didn’t know who had found mum and they didn’t know who she was,” added daughter Audrey Kell.
Appeals put out on social media connected the family to the three rescuers, who have been thanked in person for their actions.
“We are just so grateful to them,” said Mrs Weston. “We have been to see them with thank you cards, but we just thought we couldn’t not say anything. There are some really great people around and we are massively grateful to them.”
Mr Howe said: “Anyone would have done the same. It was pitch black. If we didn’t have a phone torch, we wouldn’t of seen her. I told Jamie to ring for an ambulance straight away while I grabbed her up off the floor and with Dale we carried her to his house and wrapped her in a blanket.
“She couldn’t speak at first and couldn’t move when we first found her. She had no shoes on and no coat and her lips were blue. I wouldn’t like to think about the outcome if we were an hour later walking up the street.”
Family have been visiting Mrs Teasdale after her ordeal since she was released from hospital on Sunday (November 29) with granddaughter Sophie Sakanga and her son, Noah, flying in from Paris.
