Hurricane Sandy Victim In NJ Writes 'Farewell' Note Before Amazing Rescue

A man from Toms River, N.J., who didn't think he would survive Hurricane Sandy's storm surge, broke into a stranger's house, where he asked the resident of the home to "tell my Dad I love him” in a farewell note, Yahoo reported.

The man from the letter, who was only identified as Mike, was lucky enough to be reunited with his father, Tony.

Christine Treglia found the unsettling note when she finally returned to the house that she had evacuated before the storm.

When she stepped inside her home this is the letter she found:

“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 instantly took to Facebook where she posted a picture of the letter along with this response:

"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."

After the ordeal, Mike talked to Justin Louis of WOBM radio, who was amazed by Mike’s story. The Hurricane Sandy survivor explained what prompted him to write such a desperate letter.

The 28-year-old told the radio host that he was at his home in Toms River when his kitchen was swept away, it wasn’t long until he too was swept up in the current. It took him hours to swim back home from Barnegat Bay.

"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 described Treglia’s home as "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."

That’s when 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 he tried to get warm for a few hours in Treglia’s home, he decided to tread through the flooded streets again.

"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."

Mike was luckily enough to be rescued by a man named Frank who picked him up on a personal watercraft and brought him to his house, where he warmed him by a gas stove and gave him hot chocolate.

"Frank" Vicendese wrote about Mike on Facebook:

"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 explained that he apologized to Treglia for breaking into her home. "There was money on the table, I didn't take nothing. I just took something that would keep me warm," he said.

Treglia did not respond to a request for an interview.