{"id":1005508,"date":"2026-08-17T01:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T01:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1005508\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T01:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T01:08:13","slug":"he-stopped-to-pet-a-dog-on-jacksonville-beach-then-collapsed-a-strangers-cpr-helped-save-his-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1005508\/","title":{"rendered":"He stopped to pet a dog on Jacksonville Beach \u2014 then collapsed. A stranger\u2019s CPR helped save his life"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Lance Schellpeper says the beach is where life used to feel simple.<\/p>\n

Sand under his feet. Salt in the air. A fishing rod in his hands \u2014 the way it had been since he was a kid, and the way it was for years with his wife, Linda.<\/p>\n

After Linda died last year, Schellpeper said he stopped going.<\/p>\n

But recently, he\u2019d started again. A trip here and there. Once or twice a week. A way to step back into a routine that reminded him of better days.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt good,\u201d Schellpeper told News4JAX. \u201cIt felt real good to get back out. Get the fresh air, the sand all over you again. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Aug. 12, he did what he came to do. He fished at Jacksonville Beach. And when he headed back toward his car, he noticed a woman walking her dog.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a dog lover so I had to pet the dog,\u201d he said. \u201cI reached out to pet the dog and next thing I knew I was in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where his memory ends.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust gone,\u201d he said. \u201cJust like I went to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Carde remembers it clearly.<\/p>\n

Carde said she and her dog, Evie \u2014 a rescue \u2014 had decided to take a sunrise run on the beach. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe asked to pet her and gave her all the love and we were just chatting and getting to know each other,\u201d Carde said. \u201cThen he just stopped talking and unfortunately fell to the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t have time to hesitate.<\/p>\n

Carde called 911. She asked someone nearby to hold Evie\u2019s leash. Then she got down on the ground and started CPR.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep that heart pumping\u201d<\/p>\n

Carde is a physician assistant in vascular surgery. She told News4JAX that in those moments, early CPR can be the difference between life and death.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just got to keep pounding on the chest. Keep that heart pumping until help comes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Carde estimated she performed chest compressions for about four to five minutes as rescue crews arrived.<\/p>\n

Schellpeper later learned he\u2019d had a heart attack. He underwent a quadruple bypass. And he said doctors told him the CPR Carde started almost immediately is why he survived.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really lucky to even be here because of her,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

News4JAX Reporter Chris Will (right) speaks with Lance Schellpeper (middle) and Jennifer Carde about the near-death experience and their newly formed bond. (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)A stranger becomes a friend<\/p>\n

Now, the two sit side-by-side at Schellpeper\u2019s apartment, talking like people who have known each other much longer than a few minutes on a beach.<\/p>\n

Schellpeper said the heart attack scared him and changed the way he looks at his health and his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh man it scared me bad,\u201d he said. \u201cThis whole thing has woke me up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said it shifted something deeper.<\/p>\n

Schellpeper told News4JAX he lost his wife in September. And he can\u2019t shake the feeling that on a day when he could have died, the person who knew what to do was right there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell everybody I lost my wife in September so I\u2019ve got an angel in heaven,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve got one right here on Earth too.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it restored his faith. He said he stopped going to church after his wife\u2019s death. He said now he plans to return.<\/p>\n

Lance Schellpeper’s wife Linda died in September. (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Carde said saving a life outside of a hospital is a different kind of experience \u2014 and she credits everyone involved, from the bystander who helped with her dog to the first responders and the hospital teams who took over.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a completely different feeling when you\u2019re out in the world outside of a hospital and you can help save a life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Carde said they live about a mile apart now, and both say they plan to stay in each other\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to go on forever,\u201d Schellpeper said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Lance Schellpeper says the beach is where life used to feel simple. Sand under…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1005509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,27438,3188,723,7310,10765,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1005508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-cpr","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-beach","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117108179659860679","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1005508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1005509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1005508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1005508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1005508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}