After being shot in the leg at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on Sunday night, doctors were sure that it would be a while before Thomas Gunderson was back on his feet again.
But that all changed on Wednesday when President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump paid a visit to Thomas’ hospital room on Wednesday.
In a video that Thomas posted to Instagram, Melania Trump can be seen entering the room. As she does so, a patriotic Thomas struggles to get to his feet.
The First Lady gestures for him not to stand, as she asks him how he’s doing. Still he persists and stands to shake her hand.
Just moments later, the President makes his way in, and once again, Thomas works himself to his feet.
“I will never lie down when the President of this great country comes to shake my hand!” Thomas wrote in a post with the video. “There may be plenty of issues in this country but I will always respect my country, my president and my flag. Shot in the leg or not, I will stand to show my President the respect he deserves!”
When shots started to fire on Sunday night, Thomas said he, like most everyone else in attendance, believed the noise to be coming from a shorted speaker or fireworks.
Upon realizing that bullets were flying, he jumped to action, helping those around him to safety.
“We heard the rounds going off but we kept thinking, it’s fake, it’s fake,” he said.
Seconds later, Thomas became one of the 527 victims to be injured that night as a bullet plunged into his leg.
“I went straight to the ground. It didn’t hurt. My body numbed up,” he told Fox News. “I was covered in a pool of blood—it was shooting out. It was literally everywhere.”
After dragging himself to cover behind a row of bleachers, Thomas began to get scared, fearing he may bleed out.
That’s when two young women came to his refuge. One wrapped a belt around his leg, forming a makeshift tourniquet, while the other recruited some men to carry him to safety.
“I want all of you to know there were many brave souls out there trying to protect everyone,” he wrote on Instagram.
Thomas says he’s no better or more heroic than any other civilian at that festival who selflessly risked their own lives to save others. He then encouraged everyone to join together in unity through this tragedy, before extending his sincere appreciation to the Trumps for their visit.
Thomas later posted a photo of him standing beside his bed with the President and First Lady, calling it the “greatest honor” of his life.
He is just one more incredible story of LIGHT shining brightly through the darkness of evil. Wishing him well through his recovery.
