Heroic Brother Saves Sister From Bear

Just a quick update about our boys saving their sister from the bear...today we found out that they have been nominated for the BSA's Lifesaving award, and we have had calls from the Steve Harvey show interested in interviewing them about being a hero.  Even though we have to wait for several months to find out what happens next, we are still proud of Baden and Logan for their actions no matter what the outcome.

Since many of my friends and colleagues have wondered if the 11 year old boy, Baden Kelly, is related to me and if he was the one that saved his sister from a bear, Yes, it is my youngest son, they were very brave and heroic and fortunately everyone is OK. Here is the rest of the story.
 
We took our oldest son, Logan, to camp New Fork Wyoming, to work there this summer on staff, and we were there for Father's Day.  We decided to camp by the lake and furthest away from the Lodge so that Logan could settle in. We made pancakes and bacon for Brandon and my dad so they could get the father's day experience. We thought we did a pretty good job cleaning up, and wiped down the grill so that we could deep clean it after the church service.

After church Logan, Baden, and Mariah went back to camp without telling us that they had left or where they were headed. Soon my wife’s parents, Aspen, and Kamila were going to camp site, when
staffers came running toward us yelling that there was a bear in camp and had chased some kids. I told them that my kids were in that direction, so they turned around to go look for them.  That's when we found out that we were the only ones with kids in the camp and our hearts sank and ran with emotion. 

At the lodge Brandon had jumped unto a four wheeler to look for them. There Kamila waited not knowing if the kids were safe or how I was doing. After about 30 minutes Mariah and the staffers came in. She jumped into Kamila’s arms and soberly said "Baden and Logan saved my life." Just
then the boys came in. 

What happened was they were going to camp, Logan went to his cabin, Baden and Mariah continued to camp. Baden was going to go to the bathroom when a thought came to him to "stay with your sister". Just as they approached the trailer, Baden spotted the bear at the other end. He yelled
"bear" and told Mariah to run, she didn't, so he carried her until she did. By then the bear was chasing them. A man stepped in and blocked the bear. 
 
Logan then picked up Mariah and took her to his cabin and told her to stay. Then the boys and the man chased the bear away.  Brandon was in our camp cleaning up/fixing the bear mess. He walked away from camp then turned and that's when he saw the bear in the tree he had just been working under. It turns out that this bear had been terrorizing camps for weeks so they had to put it down. Baden is sad about that, but I'm grateful I still have all my children and husband.

The bear came into our campsite as it was the first and closest to the lake, and tried to get into our water coolers that we in the shade to stay cool.  Opposed to the presentation on the news, our kids ran off without telling us and we lingered behind at the church service.  Upon entering the camp the youngest two ran into the bear and it started to chase them after a brief moment for about 100
feet or so.  Baden threw a rock to divert the bear and grabbed his sister like a football and began to run away with her.  The bear pursued and my older son Logan came from a staff cabin and did his best to distract and cut off the bear for his siblings to escape where he hid them in his cabin until other staffers could take them to safety.  

When my kids were still missing after the first 3 minutes of finding out about the bear, I left the lock down area in pursuit of finding my kids and ran into the bear at our site.  The stand off was more than 30 minutes in our campsite, and the ordeal lasted about 3 hours before all of  us were reunited.  A truck came by my site and I sent a doll, games, and medicine back to the lodge to let them know that I was safe.  The staffer that I was with chased the bear out of camp and I stayed there to protect the
entrance to other camps so it would not double back.  I then had to identify the bear once it had been dealt with and file the reports, and that is why it took so long.  Not that I was scared or negligent as media would have you believe.
 
And as Bob Harvey would say, now you know the rest of the story.  Happy reading.
By Brandon and Kamila Kelly


Top       Topics        What the Audience Gets     Contact us     Blog     Meet Brandon     Speaking Locations    Testimonials      Consulting       

Brother Saves Sister from Bear Video