Westville woman celebrated for heroic deed during Canada Day Parade

WESTVILLE, N.S. — Holly Lawrence didn’t expect to become a hero during Westville’s Canada Day parade.

As a registered nurse, Lawrence is used to dealing with the unexpected every day, but saving a man who collapsed directly in front of her during the hot Canada Day celebrations was a new experience.

“It’s different than being in a more controlled setting at the hospital. You didn’t have any equipment to be able to use and to kind of be the only one versus having a lot of staff around that could help you in a hospital. It was definitely different but rewarding at the same time,” Lawrence said.

Right place, right time

Lawrence didn’t initially intend to go to the Canada Day parade. That morning, her father-in-law lost his fight with cancer, and Lawrence was the one to pronounce him dead.

“My niece and my daughter were both going to be in the parade as princesses. He asked if they would still do the parade. That was kind of one of his wishes. So, they agreed, and we all got ready and went to go to the parade,” she said.

While at the parade, everything seemed normal until the parade started, and as Lawrence describes it, “a man dropped dead in front of me.”

She had her back turned at the time, so she didn’t see the man collapse, but she said her husband screamed her name.

“I could tell by the way that he yelled that it wasn’t good,” she said.

Jumping into action, she turned the man over. She described the man as “not looking alive” and immediately performed CPR on him, managing to bring the man back to consciousness and kept him alive until paramedics arrived and took him to the hospital.

For Lawrence, the entire situation feels serendipitous.

“My father-in-law had said before he passed that he always wanted us to play the ‘Circle of Life’ by Lion King, and we could never understand why he would want us to play that song because he was more of like a Kid Rock fan. So, it was definitely not the type of music he listened to, but we kind of got the circle of life (with what happened) earlier that morning, and then I found out that 12 hours later, I got to bring somebody back to life. So that’s our meaning for it now,” she said.

Recognition from the town

For Lennie White, the mayor of Westville, Lawrence was at the right place at the right time.

“She was there at the right time for this gentleman, at the right place,” he said, “It was wonderful.”

White said that Lawrence’s cousin had reached out to him about her heroism, and after hearing the story, he said it was an easy decision by council to present her with an award.

“I reached out to Holly to see if she was okay with having public recognition on it. She reluctantly (agreed). She wasn’t looking for it, but said yes,” he said and added that her actions also highlight the necessity of CPR and how important it is to have that skillset readily available in case of emergencies like the one Lawrence responded to.

Lawrence said that she felt embarrassed when she heard she was being given an award from the town.

“I was very grateful but almost a little embarrassed because with being a nurse and helping people, I just kind of felt like I was doing my job,” she said.

She is thankful that when she went to council to receive the award on July 31, she was able to get an update on the man she saved on Canada Day.

“I found out that he was actually doing pretty well,” she said, “So, it was nice to know as I had always wondered, like, ‘Is he alive?’ It was good to hear he’s doing okay.”