- May 5, 2024
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Holly Wehde and her 7-year-old son, Dawson, were walking to their car in the Walmart parking lot Feb. 21, when they saw an elderly man who needed help.
“He was wobbly,” Wehde remembered, “trying to cross the street. ... And I just had this really strange feeling (to) help this old man.”
Sure enough, the man went down, tripping on the pavement. Wehde ran to him and helped him up. That’s when she noticed the blood running down his arm.
“I had my hands around his wrist, trying to apply pressure,” she said. “I don’t know much about medicine, but I knew there are major arteries there … and this guy could bleed out.”
She rummaged through her truck but couldn’t find anything to use for a tourniquet. Then she looked to Dawson and asked for the shirt off his back, his favorite shirt, which he gave up without hesitating.
Wehde is the wife of Pastor Mike Wehde, of Lifecoast Church, and says she prayed with and over the injured man, who she later found out is named Francis, is 95 years old, and lives in Beverley Beach.
But the rest of the scene was a blur, she says, and she cannot remember his last name.
When the paramedics arrived, Wehde discovered that a cancerous tumor in Francis’ arm had burst, causing all the blood. She called both Walmart and his insurance company to find out the man’s full name and to check if he’s OK, but hasn’t been able to retrieve any information.
“He was just a little old man that seemed lost in the world,” Wehde said. “If there’s any story there, it’s about my 7-year-old. He didn’t hesitate, gave away his favorite shirt … (But) I think everybody’s a hero. Anybody would have stepped in.”
