Friends and family of the B.C. senior who spent five days lost in the woods say they never gave up hope he would be found.
Jamie Sproule, who has Parkinson’s disease and dementia, was discovered in the woods near Comox Lake on Tuesday afternoon, a day after an official search to find the Vancouver Island man was called off.
The 65-year-old was extremely dehydrated but was otherwise in fair shape. He is now recovering in hospital.
Mike Williams, chief of the Cumberland volunteer fire department, said it’s a miracle that Sproule survived without his medication and completely alone for the better part of a week.
A search to find him was launched Thursday when he didn’t return home after a short walk.
His daughter Annabelle said her dad has walked the same loop for 30 years, but she and her mom became concerned after he wasn’t back home within 20 minutes.
An official search and rescue operation was halted after the weekend, but loved ones didn’t give up and went back over the area again.
Sproule was found just 300 metres from his home.
“I came through the thick brush into a clearing where it didn't look like there should be a clearing. All the brush was trampled down and I could actually smell it before I saw it,” said Sophie Gilmour.
“I didn’t think there was any way he’d been found alive.”
Nephew Joe Turner called finding his missing uncle an “amazing, amazing thing.”
The area where he was found had already been searched by Comox Valley Search and Rescue. The organization is now reviewing why they didn’t find him earlier.
“It may have been an area that was done with dogs,” said Mike Bryan. “It wouldn't have been an area that we would have done a shoulder-to-shoulder search in, just because the woods and bush were so dense.”
Bryan said dozens of searchers traversed the area in a grid formation, and suggested the senior may have moved into the area after it was combed through.
