lost everything. nearly everything back in 2005, except what matters most. she gives the general credit for that. >> here is stephanie elum. >> i really owe this man my life. because the things he did for my children -- >> reporter: nearly a week after hurricane katrina hit new orleans in 2005, alexandria wheeler was at the end of her rope. >> we hadn't eaten in maybe six days. i ran out of formula and food for them. so they were really hanging on by a thread. >> reporter: after the levee broke flooding her neighborhood, she waded through the water with her 6 and a half month boys. >> i had one in the carrier in the front and one in the back. >> at one point something caught her foot. >> it was two bodies collided and they were full of water and they raised up to the top for me and lifting my leg up. >> by the time wheeler made it to the convention center, she and her boys were starving,