JENISON, Mich.,– Xander Selvius, a 10-year-old from West Michigan, is being called a hero by his family after helping to save his even younger sister from a swarm of wasps. Their parents call it a scene from a horror movie that just keeps playing over in their head.
Doctors say 7-year-old Ava Selvius was stung 50 to 60 times. The family was walking around their property Sunday, Aug. 4, off Fillmore Road in Jenison and the kids were down playing by the ravine.
“When Ava started screaming, he [Xander] ran down the ravine,” said his dad Ryan Selvius.
Ava stepped on what they thought was a wasp’s nest and she started to get stung repeatedly.
“Out of the corner of my eye I just saw Xander like fly down there to go help,” said his mom Callie.
Xander says he didn’t even think twice about running down there.
“I heard scream and I looked down in the ravine and Ava was there and screaming yelling ‘Bees! bees!’ and then she started swatting herself.”
Knowing he was the closest, he ran to his little sister, starting to get stung himself. His dad was able to eventually get him out of there, but says Ava was covered in wasps.
“I just kept running and I grabbed her while I was running. There was a creek and I threw her in one of those,” said Ryan. “She had probably 40 bees under her shirt and in her pants and boots and knotted in her hair and I just started to splash water on her and started squashing bees as fast as I could.”
It was one of the scariest moments of their lives, but as parents they say they couldn’t be prouder of their 10-year-old son.
