Trip to Target helps saves life of North Dakota woman

BISMARCK, N.D. — This Target run was a life-saver. Literally.

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The fast actions of Target employees at a North Dakota store helped a 24-year-old English teacher get to a hospital, where she later suffered a stroke.

Emme Aipperspach, of Bismarck, was shopping at Target when she said she felt faint, KXMA reported.

“I was just browsing the notebooks, as any good English teacher would, and I suddenly felt really hot, light-headed, heard the whishing in my ears and was like ‘Crap, I’m gonna go down,’” Aipperspach told the television station.

Store employees gave Aipperspach orange juice and helped her call a friend for assistance.

“Had I not gone in I would’ve had a stroke at home by myself because I live alone,” Aipperspach told KFYR. “So, really, just a lot of the right pieces fell into place for me.”

Travis Parker, the human relations director for the Target store, said he did not realize how serious Aipperspach’s condition had been.

“We just waited up front, had a really good conversation, connection about her day,” Parker told KXMA. “She left with her friend and went to get checked out. So we didn’t think a whole lot about it at that time.”

Aipperspach’s aunt called the store several days later to let officials know that the woman’s car was still in the store’s parking lot.

“When I heard that, I felt like it was necessary to do a little care package,” Parker told KXMA. “I just thought, ‘Here’s someone who’s 24, she seemed like a really great person. To have a stroke, she’d be going through a lot.’ I got my team together and said let’s do a basket for Emme.”

Aipperspach was happy to get the gift basket and took to TikTok to update friends about her situation. Her post quickly went viral.

Parker, who does not have a social media account, was surprised when he heard about the post.

“I open it and here’s Emme on a Tiktok and I said, ‘Oh!’ I said, ‘Did Emme get the basket?’ and (a friend) is like ‘Watch the Tiktok Travis, she got the basket.’ It was pretty cool,” Parker told KFYR. “It was just fun to see that somebody really appreciated it and that it meant something to her to get that from us.”

In a follow-up TikTok post, Aipperspach said she was not surprised by the assistance she received.

“This is what living in North Dakota is like,” Aipperspach posted. “People help people out.

“People don’t know much about North Dakota, but it’s a really, really wonderful place to live,” Aipperspach added. “Not a lot of people here, but the people who are here are incredibly kind and thoughtful, and just generous and considerate.

While Aipperspach and Parker have not met in person since her trip to the hospital, the North Dakota native said she plans to return to the store to thank him.” Target posted a video on YouTube with a split-screen of Parker and Aipperspach.

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