North Carolina
North Carolina father-to-be saved by quick-thinking pregnant wife after suffering sudden heart attack
A North Carolina man who unknowingly lived with a rare heart condition was saved by his pregnant wife after he suddenly went into cardiac arrest while lounging in bed.
Brandon Whitfield, 39, was already preparing for one drastic lifestyle change when his wife, Angela, became pregnant last spring.
Then, he suffered an unexpected heart attack when she was just nine weeks along.
“I was eating carrot cake in bed watching the hockey playoffs. And mid-conversation, I just started to slump over,” Brandon recounted to WSOC-TV.
Angela didn’t think anything of it for a few seconds, figuring Brandon might just be groggy or joking, but “jumped into action” when she realized “this was an emergency.”
Thankfully, Angela has worked as a physician assistant for more than a decade. She knew what to do instantly and, after calling 911, started to perform CPR on her prone husband.
Angela was shaken in the moments after, though, as she started to rationalize what she’d just had to do.
“You absolutely never ever think you are going to have to do CPR on your spouse,” she told the outlet.
“I thought I may be a widow,” she added.
Brandon was rushed to a nearby Novant Health medical center and, to his horror, diagnosed with a rare heart condition.
“Just because you’re young and you’re fit and you’re relatively healthy doesn’t mean that heart disease can’t happen to you,” Brandon told the outlet.
Brandon was quick to laud his wife with praise.
“It was nothing short of a miracle. Everything lined up for her to be there. It was not my time,” he said.
In the wake of his shocking diagnosis, Brandon had to adopt a Mediterranean diet and is trying to be “more mindful” about what he eats — which means no more carrot cake.
After his brush with death, the dad-to-be implored others who may be taking their lives for granted to make sure they don’t leave anything unsaid, just in case their final days are nearer than they think.
“If you can do something today, do it today. If you can tell your family you love them, do it,” he said.
A blast of storms came through central North Carolina on Thursday, causing problems for homeowners, drivers and power companies.
The central part of the state saw a wide spectrum of weather in the span of a few hours, coming one day after Raleigh-Durham International Airport logged record-breaking 89-degree temperatures. On Thursday morning, many places saw temperatures in the 70s, but that changed quickly.
The worst of the rain came in the late-morning/early-afternoon hours with straight-line winds blowing in excess of 30 mph as a cold front moved through and put an end to an extended warm stretch. A 52 mph gust was recorded in Goldsboro.
Around 2 p.m., pockets of east Raleigh, Garner and Holly Springs all had hundreds of power outages.
A Pikeville resident sent a photo of a tree that had split in a yard. In Four Oaks, a person shared a photo of an overturned RV.
On the roads, one lane of Interstate 40 was closed near Harrison Avenue because of a fallen tree. Part of NC 55 was closed in Holly Springs near Dickens Road because of downed power lines and trees. WRAL News also received reports of a downed tree blocking N.C. Highway 242 in Sampson County. between Salemburg and Roseboro.
Near Erwin, a viewer sent a photo of a tree upside down and entangled in power lines.
The National Weather Service confirmed there were no tornadoes in central North Carolina on Thursday.
Interestingly enough, Roxboro saw snow flurries in the early afternoon due to a dramatic dip in temperatures from the morning. Impacts from the snow were expected to be minimal.
“It’s the cold air catching up with the moisture,” said WRAL meteorologist Kat Campbell. “You don’t have to worry about any of the sticking or leading toward any kinds of impacts.”
Temperatures were expected to fall into the 40s throughout the area on Thursday afternoon. As the winds subside, we’ll see temperatures in the 30s on Friday morning with possible frost.
CHEROKEE COUNTY, N.C. — A man has been arrested after a months-long investigation into a series of intentionally set fires near the North Carolina-Georgia state line, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office says.
On March 10th investigators with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Murphy Police Department, the North Carolina Forest Service, and the Georgia Forest Service arrested 48-year-old Kevin James Roper of Blairsville, Georgia.
Roper is suspected of setting multiple fires in wooded and brush areas near the state line. Roper has been charged with 10 counts of intentionally setting fire to grass, brushlands and woodlands.
The investigation began in late December 2025 after several suspicious fires were reported along Tate Road, an area that straddles the state line between Cherokee County, North Carolina, and Union County, Georgia.
Because of the location of the incidents and the nature of the fires, the North Carolina Forest Service and Georgia Forest Service initiated a joint investigation.
Additional fires were reported in February 2026 in the Martins Creek Community.
On February 22nd, deputies with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office responded to one of the fires as part of the ongoing investigation.
On March 10th, the North Carolina Forest Service and the Georgia Forest Service requested assistance from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office and Murphy Police Department in taking Roper into custody.
Investigators with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office made contact with Roper, who was taken into custody and transported to the Cherokee County Detention Center.
Roper was released after posting a $25,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in Cherokee County District Court on April 7th.
A girl who was kidnapped from Duarte in 2020 when she was just 5 years old has been found safe in North Carolina.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said it found Karen Rojas, who is now 11, on Tuesday. She was enrolled in school under an alias, according to investigators.
Authorities said she was kidnapped on June 2, 2020.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services notified Washington County law enforcement that she may be in the state.
They coordinated with several agencies, located the girl and took her into protective custody.
“These are very rare occurrences to have such a positive outcome on such an old case as this, but it reminds us that through hard work, and dedication, and cooperation, stories with positive outcomes like these can happen,” the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post.
Due to the age of the child, further information was not immediately available.
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