Minnesota woman with multiple sclerosis rescues man from freezing Mississippi River

On Friday evening, Kathy Maloney and Connie Burczyk of St. Cloud, Minnesota, were walking a dog near the Mississippi River when they heard splashing and yelling near the river bank.

Maloney stayed on the path with the dog while Burczyk decided to investigate.

Burczyk found a man who appeared to be injured in the water. Despite having multiple sclerosis and a fractured ankle, she entered the water and pulled the man to shore.

Maloney called the police.

"By the time we found him, his hands were already blue," Maloney told the SC Times. "It was a miracle that it happened the way it did because that man would have froze to death or drowned."

Captain Steve Richardson or the St. Cloud Fire Department told the SC Times that the man had slipped on a rock and fell in the water. While he wasn't at risk of drowning, he did face a serious risk of hypothermia. He was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

"I'm very proud of Connie, I'm just amazed…she was brave to do that," Maloney said. "I'm so tired of hearing of people saying that people don't care about other people; here's proof."