Family's heartbreak as 'iron-willed' great-grandmother of seven dies when Hurricane Sandy cuts power to her oxygen machine - and the backup tank springs a leak

Herminia St. John, 75, passed away around 10.30pm on Monday during the storm

Her family frantically called 911 for help but couldn't get through

EMS workers finally arrived but didn't bring an oxygen tank

Panama-native described as having a 'backbone of iron' had seven children, 14 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren

A great-grandmother from Kips Bay tragically died after Hurricane Sandy cut power to her oxygen machine and her backup tank sprang a leak.

Herminia St. John, 75, survived a dangerous storm decades ago in her native Panama when she was hit in the leg by a piece of flying metal, but on Monday evening she wasn't so lucky.

The woman, who family and friends described as having a 'backbone of iron', was bedridden and on oxygen in the 33-story apartment building at East 26th Street and 2nd Avenue when the storm struck.

Rescue efforts: Elsa St. John, right, with a photograph of her mother Herminia, who she tried frantically to save on Monday evening

After the electricity cut out, her daughter Elsa St. John, 54, and her live-in aide turned on a backup oxygen tank but that soon sprung a leak, according to DNA Info, and the women, in the darkness, couldn't find the source to fix it.

'She called on me. She gave me a hug, a kiss,' said Elsa St. John told the news website, adding that she asked to be turned towards the window.

'She said her goodbyes, and she went,' Elsa said.

Before she passed, her family frantically fought to save her but were unable to get through to 911 despite calling repeatedly.

Panicked, her grandson Claudio St. John, 31, ran down 22 flights of stairs to nearby Bellevue Hospital searching for help.

Great-grandmother: Herminia St. John left behind seven children, 14 great-grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, some of whom are pictured

He managed to convince two EMS workers at the hospital, already overwhelmed because of the hurricane, to follow him to his ailing grandmother's bedside.

But when they arrived the staff did not have an oxygen tank and had to rush outside to get one.

By the time they returned, at 10.30pm, they found Ms St John had died.



'It’s devastating to lose her with all the fighting,' neighbour Joann Davis, 57, told DNA Info. 'It’s totally unjust.'

Still without power: Ms St. John died after power was cut off in her 33-story building during Hurricane Sandy. The building is still without power

St. John had moved to New York in the 1960s as a young mother to take up a job as a housekeeper, enduring a long separation from her seven young children. She later worked as a cook, and slowly, as she earned enough money, she would bring out one child at a time from Panama to join her in the U.S. until the entire family were finally together.

Over the years, the woman suffered diabetes, lung and heart problems and a stroke but always devoted herself to her growing family.

'She was one of those people with a backbone of iron,' family friend Marilyn Eiss, 47, who Ms St. John referred to as her 'white daughter' told DNA Info .

Mourning: Family friends and relatives Bradley Blake, 58, left, Elsa St. John, 54, Cleopatra St. John, 24, mourn their beloved Herminia

'Just like they always say, If you work hard you can achieve anything. And that’s what she did.'

The family and friends sat around a red candle in Ms St. John's still pitch-black apartment on Wednesday, paying tribute to the woman they loved, while still 'shell-shocked' by her death.