A Summerside woman wonders if it was divine intervention that made her take a different route home on March 22.
Kathy Campbell-McManus was on her way home from her job at the Summerside Tax Centre when she chose to go home a different route due to a snowstorm that began suddenly.
She came upon a man who had gotten stuck in the storm on his scooter. The man, a resident of the Summerset Manor, was trying to make his way back when his scooter stopped working.
Campbell-McManus said the snowstorm caught everyone off guard, including the man in his scooter.
“He looked like Frosty the snowman it was so bad out. (The storm) came up so quick here in Summerside,’’ Campbell-McManus told The Guardian. “He kind of got caught in it and he was trying to get home.
“I’ve been at the tax centre for 25 years, and this was my worst drive home – and that’s living in town. It was a very nasty storm.’’
“It was very scary to think what could have happened to him. When I first pulled over she said the police were supposed to be coming, but the police van is not serviced to do wheelchairs. I was scared for him. We were lucky that I had the transportation to get him home. Most people that came across him wouldn’t have a wheelchair accessible van to be able to put him in the vehicle and get him home.’’
-Kathy Campbell-McManus
Campbell-McManus wasn’t the first person who happened upon the man. A young girl had stopped and was also trying to help.
It just so happens that Campbell-McManus’s husband, Greg, is in a wheelchair from an accident in 1995, so she was driving a van that was wheelchair accessible.
Campbell-McManus, the young girl and a nearby resident helped load the scooter into the van.
“The poor fellow was frozen. He did have mittens and a hat on, but that wind was blowing north and it was right in his face.’’
Campbell-McManus said it was her good deed for the day.
“My husband is in a wheelchair, and a lot of people stop and help him if he’s had some issues. We live close to the mall and the hospital, so he often drives himself over and he’s had troubles where he’s fallen out of the chair and someone always stops for him. So, I was just kind of paying it forward.’’
The Guardian contacted the Summerset Manor to ask the man for comment, but he declined to say anything and asked that the newspaper not identify him.
Campbell-McManus and the other young woman who stopped talked about what might have happened to the man had they not come along.
“It was very scary to think what could have happened to him. When I first pulled over she said the police were supposed to be coming, but the police van is not serviced to do wheelchairs. I was scared for him. We were lucky that I had the transportation to get him home. Most people that came across him wouldn’t have a wheelchair accessible van to be able to put him in the vehicle and get him home.’’
