Photo: Heather Carrigan

The photo posted on the Facebook page Tuesday night to help identify Carrigan's mother

A local woman is giving out a big thank you to the Penticton community after they came together to help find her mom.

Heather Carrigan was informed on Tuesday night that her mom, Lillian Roylance, had gotten out of her nursing home and was missing. 

The home called Carrigan around midnight to inform her that “the door got jammed open a little bit and she saw an opportunity and she left.”

Roylance is 85 years old and has severe dementia.

Carrigan and three police cars started out looking for her all night, alongside security companies, taxis and locals. Berry & Smith Trucking Ltd also put her picture up on all the buses they could.

“I think it's amazing how the town came together...I also stopped and talked to a few homeless people, they said “Yeah the police told us about it, we're looking for her,” Carrigan said. 

“I put it on the Penticton Facebook page and it was actually a resident in town who found her because of that post.”

Roylance was found by a young gentleman, Marshall Shelswell, who saw her lying in the grass about a kilometre away from the seniors home.

“My hero,” Carrigan said.

“He said ‘Some people thought she was a homeless person’ and ‘I saw her face and saw the picture on facebook’ and said ‘No that's her.’” 

The Good Samaritan had sent Carrigan a message on the Facebook page telling her he had found her mom and was bringing her back over.

Carrigan added it was a big time relief when somebody found her. 

“She's very feeble...The guy said it looked like she had fallen. There was a picnic table there and I did go back, you could see the ground was messed.”

Roylance was found with a ding on her head and a couple bruises, but after being taken to emergency, she was cleared to be fine. 

“I'm just so thankful for the way that the town came together,” Carrigan said. “They really did a good thing here.”