Sick Farmer Couldn't Harvest His Crops, 60 Other Farmers Stepped in to Help

COLOMBIA-COFFEE-CRISIS

There's a 64-year-old wheat farmer in eastern Washington named Larry Yockey, who's been battling stage 4 melanoma. And he's in pretty rough shape.

The cancer spread to his bones and weakened them. So he ended up with a broken hip and cracked ribs. And he had no way to harvest his crops this year.

But a bunch of people on neighboring farms found out about it a few months ago and started planning.

And on Sunday, around 60 farmers showed up with combines and other equipment. And they harvested his entire 1,200-acre field in ONE DAY.

They did three weeks of work in about six hours. And Larry was totally blown away by the huge show of support. Obviously it's a big deal for him financially. So all that stress is gone.

It's also given him an opportunity to focus on his treatments and hopefully get better. He told reporters he can't even describe how thankful he is. 

(KREM / CNN) (Here's a shot of Larry, and a photo of all the farming equipment lined up.)

(There was a similar story last year about a cotton farmer in Texas who had leukemia. And other farmers harvested 450 acres for him.)

Image © 2019 Getty Images


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