Homeless Saint John man loses part of leg, foot to frostbite

Less than three weeks after a homeless Saint John man lost his life in a tent fire, another is in hospital after losing his left leg below the knee and half of his right foot to severe frostbite.

Jamie Langille, 43, who has lived in a tent in a wooded area uptown for about three years, said he fell asleep one night with wet feet.

"I usually light a fire at nighttime," he said, explaining he burns candles and hand sanitizer in a bucket to get warm. "And I thaw my whole body out. But that night, I fell asleep."

His feet froze, Langille said, and he developed gangrene, the death of body tissue.

A CAT scan confirmed the extent of the damage and doctors broke the news that he needed immediate amputations.

"I don't know how to deal with it right now," Langille, who underwent the surgeries on Jan. 19, said from his hospital bed. 

"It's weird going from being able to walk and run around and do whatever with your two legs, and then now, I only have one leg and half of a foot. And I just don't know what lies ahead.

"I'm already homeless. I don't have a clue what to do.

"My mind's racing everywheres and I just … It's a difficult time."

Infuriated, Catherine Driscoll, a volunteer with Street Team SJ, which provides food and supplies to the homeless, got Langille's permission to post graphic before and after in-hospital photos.

The photos showed Langille's blackened, cold-ravaged feet and the white-bandaged stumps left behind.

"This is the ongoing reality of the unhoused community," she wrote on Facebook, referring to Langille's amputations and the Jan. 7 death of Evan McArthur, 44, following a fire at a homeless encampment in the north end.

"We can't waste any more time. Nobody should lose their limb or their life in order to have the basic necessity of a home."

Driscoll, who has checked on Langille weekly for the past year and used to check on McArthur, also sent a longer email to Premier Blaine Higgs, Saint John MP Wayne Long, local MLAs Arlene Dunn, Trevor Holder and Dorothy Shephard, Mayor Donna Reardon and city councillors. She thanked those who have been actively working toward a solution and urged them to continue to push forward.