The stories coming out of Appalachia in the chaos of Hurricane Helene are nothing short of extraordinary and this latest one is no different. From
mule teams packing out supplies, to a
Waffle House feeding the community despite not having power, to a father hiking 30 miles after driving 7 hours
to walk his daughter down the aisle , it really is true that the best in humanity shows in the worse of situations. This latest story comes to us from Fleetwood, North Carolina, an unincorporated town in Ashe County about 15 miles northeast of Boone and Appalachian State. A woman named Kathy was reaching out to various people to try and get help for her cousin Angel Green who was 9 months pregnant with a due date of October 18th. Obviously, things in western North Carolina have been less than ideal for the last few weeks of a pregnancy and due to the power outages and road closures, Angel's friend's had not heard from her in a few days. Both those friends and her cousin Kathy began reaching out to anyone who they thought could get some help her way, including a person who has been providing updates of her family's restoration and efforts to find and support her neighbors. A message sent to her read:
"There is a heavily pregnant woman in Fleetwood and her friends have lost contact with her. Due date is Oct 18. Just wanted to give you a heads up. Her friends reached out to me really concerned. I am trying to verify her location." A follow up message read:
"Hospital in Salem VA has a helipad. If we can establish her location, do you think it would be possible to get a chopper out there and airlift her to Salem?" The woman potentially in trouble was referred to as Kathy, but that's her cousin's name who was looking for her. Confusion happens, just wanted to make sure we're all on the same page. After responding by asking for an address, coordinates, or even a last name to assist in locating her, she received the most insane message to tell her that the lost woman needed no help at all:
"Girl you ain't gonna f***ing believe this. That pregnant girl shot and killed a deer, chopped it up, put it in a freezer, and drove herself to a FEMA center to give birth." https://twitter.com/Panty_Christ/status/1843957912521351561 With a baby ready to pop out at any second Angel was like "Ehh, the freezer looks a little empty. Let me just grab a deer and stock up on food before hopping in a car and driving on destroyed roads to a FEMA center to become a mother." That is a true-blooded Appalachian woman right there. We got some clarifications on this story from Kathy (the cousin) from her own X account. Turns out Angel didn't shoot the deer, she used a bow and arrow, which makes it
even more impressive. She even paused to take a picture with the deer so we all get to have a good look at a newfound legend of western North Carolina. https://twitter.com/fugitivekat/status/1844053281989136700 Kathy also let us all know that Angel is in good health and is expected to bring a 9 pound baby named Riley into the world at any moment. https://twitter.com/fugitivekat/status/1844057638679826914 Angel's Venmo hasn't been made public yet and there's no link to donate to her but I'll be sure to update this post if anything gets posted. Fingers crossed everything goes well with the delivery and let's hope that Riley recognizes the fact that he's going to be raised by a certified Appalachian legend. https://twitter.com/Panty_Christ/status/1844054304963068322
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