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Amazing story of survival after Toms River
man leaves ‘farewell’ note
by Ron Recinto
Nov. 5, 2012
(WOBM)
A Toms River, N.J., man who
didn't think he would survive Sandy's
storm surge, broke into a stranger's house and left a farewell note asking her
to "tell my Dad I love him."
Thankfully the letter writer,
identified only as Mike, was reunited with his father, Tony. And both will have
a lifetime to retell his tale of survival.
So will Christine Treglia, who found this unsettling note
when she returned home, which she had evacuated before the storm:
Who ever reads this I'm DIEING — I'm 28 yrs old my
name is Mike. I had to break in to your house. I took blankets off the couch. I
have hypothermia. I didn't take any thing. A wave thru me out of my house down
the block. I don't think I'm going to make it. The water outside is 10ft deep
at least. There's no res[c]ue.
Tell my dad I love him and I tryed get[t]ing out. His
number is ###-###-#### his name is Tony. I hope u can read this I'm in the
dark. I took a black jacket too. Goodbye. God all mighty help me.
Treglia posted this response
on Facebook
along with a link to the
story about the note:
"This was my house that
Mike found refuge in. We found this letter and 2 others in our home along with
"help me" signs posted to our windows. We called immediately and were
so relieved that Mike was safe and made his way home."
In an interview with
Justin Lewis of WOBM radio, Mike, who still seemed amazed
by his ordeal, shared the story behind his frantic note.
He said he was at his home in
the Green Island
community of Toms
River when his kitchen
was swept away, so he walked out of his house and was swept up in the current.
He said he was pulled a half-mile into the bay and then spent about four hours
trying to swim back home.
"Well, the current took
me to somewhere, which I didn't even know where I was, and it threw me back
into the bay. And I tried to swim back to my house for some reason," Mike
said. "You know, sometimes you don't think."
He said he ended up across
the bay at "some lady's house."
"She had towels on the
couch. I just wrapped my body with the towels. ... I was so thirsty because I
drank so much salt water. I didn't think I was gonna make it."
He penned the note in the
dark.
"I just wanted to have
that note to tell my father I tried. You know, I wasn't a baby about it. I
tried, I did my thing." Mike told WOBM.
"I was swimming for so
long. ... I was so cold, I thought I was just going to freeze right
there," he said, "But that lady, I felt like for some reason, she
knew someone was going to be in that house. She had these wool blankets all
over the place. And I just wrapped myself in them."
After a few hours inside in
the dark, Mike ventured back out into the waters.
"In the street there was
about eight feet of water, and I'm like, I ain't dying like this, after all
this, I ain't dying like this."
He said he was picked up by
someone named Frank on a personal watercraft. Frank took in Mike and warmed him
by a gas stove and gave him hot chocolate.
On Facebook, "Frank"
Vicendese of Green Island writes of Mike, "He was
very thankful to be alive and warm, also very emotional after warming up by my
stove after it started to sink in what happened."
Mike's journey took him to a
friend's house in Kettle Creek, and then his dad came and picked him up.
"I told my dad when I got home, you follow me" wherever I go, he
said.
Mike says in his conversation
with Treglia he apologized for entering her home and said, "There was
money on the table, I didn't take nothing. I just took something that would
keep me warm."
Treglia did not respond to a
request for an interview.
Some people on social media
have called Mike's survival a miracle.
He may not believe he stole
anything during his ordeal. But certainly he was given a most valuable gift—his
life.
To be honest with you, I'm
afraid of the dark now. I was in the dark for so long with at least 15 to 20
foot waves that with the bay crashing over me. I couldn't even breathe.
I told my dad when I got
home, you follow me everywhere you go.
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