Cameron Conaway salutes Mike White Sr who saved the life of Farrah Soudani in the Aurora theater shooting.
“I’m not a hero, I’m just Mike.”
Good men are made in moments, millions of them. Some are of astounding stress, others of total temptation, most are mundane. Like tiny particles of dust these moments all congeal and at the end of a man’s life people mill around a casket or grave or urn or memory and say or think: He was a good man.
Air Force Veteran Mike White Sr. sat watching The Dark Knight Rises with his son, Mike White Jr., and his son’s girlfriend, Farrah Soudani, at Century 16 Theater in Aurora, Colorado. “At first, I thought it was some kind of prank or trick, but when it started the automatic weapons firing, I knew that was real,” he told 7News.
This tiny moment as measured by time, this moment imposed on him, became bent to his will.
Bullets were flying. Mike White Jr. was shot in the back and the bullet came out from his shoulder. Regarding Farrah, Sr. said: “I could see her guts coming out of her side. The first thing that came to mind is, I need to make sure they don’t fall out.” And with that Sr. not only had the clarity of mind to work on saving her, but to actually take his shirt off and use that rather than his bare hands to stabilize her organs so as to prevent infection.
As the gunman came within two rows, Sr. covered Farrah’s body with his, waited for a bullet’s impact and whispered to her: “I know you’re in pain, but you got to be quiet. Be still. Be quiet.”
And in that critical moment the theater lights came on and the gunman walked in the other direction. The bullet he readied himself to take never came.
He has even handled the fame of the moment with the utmost humility: “No, I’m not a hero. I’m just Mike. There’s other people in [there] that were heroes.”
Mike White was released from the hospital Monday. Farrah Soudani is still in critical condition, and does not have health insurance. $27,003 of the $100,000 goal has been raised for Farrah here on GoFundMe.
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I have known mike wight for three years when i went to the middle school he worked at and he has always bin a hero to me even before the shooting i want to thank him and someday see him agian and say thankyou to his face i hope you are doing ok and your girlfriend and i hope you can come back to prairie middle school 🙂
Dear Zahra,
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with Mike White. It’s incredible how quickly things in the media can blow over, so I was thrilled to see your post here. While it’s terrific to know that Mike was a hero in the moment, it is perhaps even greater to know that he’s a great guy in everyday life.
Thanks again! 🙂
~Cameron
It’s my sincere hope that people like Mike White Sr are remembered far after this tragedy as men of grace and heroism. I was reminded by this of how we do tend to remember the perpetrator, but how we can make a change by making a point to talk about these heroes too. Yes we all know the name Osama bin Ladin, but I think most of us also know what someone means when we say “Let’s roll” when talking about heroes and great men… We think of Todd Beamer and the other heroes who sacrificed their lives to help… Read more »