She was stranded in the snowstorm. Her junior high coach, whom she hadn't seen in 30 years, came to get her.
When last week's East Coast snowstorm left Manyka Gaither stranded at a Washington dialysis center, it was perhaps the most unexpected person who came to her rescue: her junior high school basketball coach whom she had not seen in more than 30 years.
Gaither goes for dialysis at least three times a week in northeast Washington. She arrived at the facility, which is about a five-minute drive from her home, about 6 a.m. on Jan. 3, shortly before the roads became slick and dangerous.
Typically, she stays at the facility until 10:45 a.m., but she was feeling ill that day and decided to stop the machine at 9. She quickly realized, though, that getting home would be a problem.
Gaither, 45, who uses a wheelchair, relies on a transit program for the disabled to travel to and from her dialysis appointments. But given the weather, services had been suspended, leaving her stranded and alone. She unsuccessfully tried to get home on her own but ended up back at the dialysis center.
"I was feeling really weak and ill, and I just wanted to get home," Gaither recalled, adding that only one of her four children had access to a vehicle, and was stuck at work and unable to get her.
She decided to share her struggle on Facebook.
"I need the Lord to get me home safe," she wrote. "... Pray for me and I will continue to pray for you. We all need it!"
Gaither's intention in writing the post, she said, was not to summon someone to pick her up. Rather, she merely wanted to provide friends and family with an update on her status during the storm.
What happened next stunned her. Ronald Jenkins, her former coach, sent her a private message simply asking, "Where are you?"
She had not seen or spoken to Jenkins, who was her junior high basketball coach, since she graduated in 1992. Although they were friends on Facebook, the two did not stay in touch.
But all of a sudden, there he was in her messages.
Gaither told him where she was, to which he immediately responded: "I'm on my way."
Jenkins, 72, lives in Upper Marlboro, Md., about 20 miles away from the dialysis facility, but he said he did not think twice about bracing the dangerous driving conditions to pick up his former student - who had become more or less a stranger since she graduated three decades ago.
"It didn't matter who she was. She was somebody that needed help, and I just felt like it was my turn to step up," he said.
Jenkins taught health and physical education at the school for 30 years, and also coached track and field and basketball, before retiring in 2013. Two years before his retirement, during the infamous 2011 winter storm, his co-worker picked up him and his wife from a hospital, after Jenkins's mother was rushed there in an ambulance and they had no way of getting home.
So, when Jenkins saw Gaither's Facebook post, he thought to himself, "I got to go. I got to return the favor," he said.
He informed his wife, Elizabeth, that he was heading out to pick up a stranded former student, and to his delight, she said: "Well, I'm going, too!"
The couple bundled up in their warmest winter gear, got in their 2013 Lexus SUV and embarked on what would typically be a 35-minute drive. The slick roads extended the trip to well over two hours.
"It was pretty bad out there," Jenkins said.
When they finally arrived at the dialysis facility, Gaither was the only patient in the waiting room.
"I didn't really recognize her," Jenkins said. "She was wrapped up in a blanket."
In the 30 years since he had last seen her, Gaither had suffered a series of health challenges, including several heart attacks and two strokes, as well as kidney problems, she said.
Despite all she has been through, "I'm victor, not a victim," said Gaither, who is studying remotely at the University of Phoenix to become a social worker.
When Jenkins stepped through the door that day, "I just immediately cried," Gaither said. "I felt like he saved my life. I was so sick and drained from dialysis, if he had not gotten me, there's no telling what condition I would have been in. I am so, so grateful."
Right away, she sensed that Jenkins was "the same humble-spirited man that really cared for the kids."
Gaither uses a motorized wheelchair, which would not fit in Jenkins's car, so she had to leave it at the facility. When they arrived at her home after the short drive, Jenkins and Gaither's daughter managed to carry her up to her apartment, where she was thankful to be safe after a scary morning.
"I just felt so blessed and overwhelmed," said Gaither, who offered to give Jenkins gas money, to which he responded: "Just give me a hug. That's it."
Jenkins said he hopes his rescue mission will remind others that "if you have an opportunity to do good for people, then you should step up and do it," he said.
The recently reunited pair, who were interviewed by WRC-TV this week, plan to keep in touch and meet in person as often as possible.
"That 30 years did not seem like 30 years," Gaither said. "It felt like I had not missed a day of being around him."
Her former coach agreed: "It is more than just a Facebook friendship," Jenkins said. "We're now connected on another, more human level. We're friends for life."
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