Maine woman who survived 4 days lost in the woods thanks to her dog shares story from hospital bed

ALEXANDER, Maine — A Maine woman who survived 4 days lost in the woods with the help of her dog is sharing her story from her hospital bed.

On Sunday, October 13, Pamela and John Helmstadter went for a hike with their dogs near their home in Washington County, Maine.

Pamela said she and her husband went on a trail they have hiked for years.

Helmstadter says her husband wanted to take a different route than usual but then ended up falling a couple of times. The couple did not have phones with them, so Pamela went to get help and that’s when she got lost.

“I’m trying to find a way out, and I’m hearing sawing, and I know there’s men sawing in the woods, what was going through my mind is if I could reach those men sawing in the woods, but I couldn’t,” Helmstadter said. “I would call out to them, I’d wait for the saws to stop and I’d call out ‘Help I’m lost,’ but I couldn’t connect with anybody.”

Helmstadter says she survived on peat moss and water from leaves after it rained. Helmstadter also thanks her two-and-a-half-year-old black lab named Lucy who helped her survive.

“She would press up against me, we’d press up against each other, and she would sit up and I would hug her, and I would feel that warmth from her.

Helmstadter said she had given hope of being found until she heard a search plane flying over her give different times on Thursday.

“I’m sure a lot of that sustained me through this when the game wardens came, I don’t remember this, but I was told she laid right on top of me, she was protecting me from the game wardens.”

Pamela’s husband was 81 years old and died after falling multiple times. The couple was married for 31 years.

“He wasn’t well at the time, he was walking with a cane, but it was very painful that when I left him that was the last time I saw him, it never occurred to me that’s how our marriage on this earth would end,” she added.

The couple has another small dog. That dog was with her husband at the time and they believe he ran home at some point after her husband died, that’s when neighbors thought something was odd and called for help.

As of Wednesday morning, Helmstadter was still in the hospital recovering.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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