Aunt: Prayers were answered when nephew found

NEWTON, Mass. (WHDH) -- The news of 17-year-old Nicholas Joy’s rescue brought a sense of relief to his family on Tuesday.

Joy went missing on Sunday while skiing on Maine’s Sugarloaf Mountain. A snowmobiler found Joy Tuesday morning after surviving almost 48 hours in the wilderness.

Joy’s aunt spoke with 7News about how she was overjoyed to hear the news of her nephew. She said she never lost hope that her nephew would be found.

“We just had a little prayer chain going and we just all continued to pray. The rest of the members of the family and all of that. I just believe that’s all we could do and none of us felt it. None of us felt the worst. We all felt hope because we talked about that with each other -- how could we help each other,” said Dianne Digirolamo, Joy’s aunt. “You have your triumphs and your tragedies and we wanted this to turn into a triumph, not a tragedy. So…we just communicated with each other. We called and we text and we just kept saying to each other, ‘Just keep praying, just keep praying’ because there was really nothing else to do but sit and wait and pray. And that’s just what we kept doing and obviously our prayers were answered.”

She said she will welcome Joy back with a big hug and perhaps a party.