BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — During the height of last week’s storm, one Buffalo couple fought to keep their one-year-old son alive. Shahida Muhammad calls her son major, a fighter.

During last week’s blizzard the family lost power and it was only a matter of time before the one-year-old’s ventilator stopped working. “It was very scary, very stressful,” said Shahida. “We knew if we fell asleep for one minute or if we just gave up for one second, we wouldn’t be looking at Major today.”

Shahida says she called 911 and said they needed help. “I explained to all of them that I have a child on a ventilator that’s not allowed to go without power,” said Shahida. “So they were telling me they were going to send someone and I just kept hearing they’re going to send someone.” “His ventilator went out at 11p.m.,” said Michael Brown, Major’s father. “We was manually bagging him, the whole two days, she was stressing. I was stressing. I kept telling her we can do this, we can do this as a family, we have to make sure Major good.”

Michael decided to walk to the nearest store in the snow and cold, charge a phone and post for help on social media. The post caught Shaquille Jones’ attention. Jones and his family were stuck outside in his car for 18 hours in the blizzard before getting to safety. He says he was given a second chance and wanted to use it to help others.

“If someone needs help, I’m going to help them,” said Jones. Jones and a few others showed up at the couple’s home, cleared a path and attempted to drive to a grandparent’s house. They got stuck four blocks away and had to walk the rest of the way. “I had to pump the baby, walking, trying to get to the car in a lot of snow in the storm,” said Jones. “It was the scariest thing I had ever had to do in my life.”

Eventually, they made it. “We made it to my moms house,” said Michael. “I plugged up his ventilator and I put him on his machine.” “God was watching over me and God sent Shaquille to us,” said Shahida. “So I’m very grateful Major still here and that he’s still a part of our family.”