NEED TO KNOW

Tarynn Byrum was at work when the unthinkable happened

A man had tossed an orange tabby kitten into a gutter near her workplace

Byrum rescued the cat and drove 45 minutes to a vet to try to save the little one

Tarynn Byrum was at work in North Carolina one day in May when one of her coworkers asked if she liked cats.

"He then informed me that, from across the street, he witnessed a man in a work truck drive past and throw my sweet baby into a storm gutter in our parking lot and rush off," Byrum tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I followed him outside, where he pointed out a tiny orange kitten lying in the gutter, peeking at us from over a parking barrier."

Byrum jumped into action, immediately bending down to scoop the little one up. The kitten, barely bigger than her hand, did

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