More than 100 farmers in Minnesota showed up to help one of their own after a serious medical diagnosis.
The farming community in Polk County is strong and it showed when community members took it upon themselves to help farmer Mark Holy on September 24, KCBD reported Sunday.
Over the summer, Holy was diagnosed with ALS, which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, per the Mayo Clinic’s website.
“ALS often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in an arm or leg, trouble swallowing or slurred speech. Eventually ALS affects control of the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe. There is no cure for this fatal disease,” the site read.
The community decided to harvest more than 400 acres of Holy’s sugar beet fields to show they are supporting the family. Although it was difficult for him not to be working in his own fields, Mark was grateful for his neighbors’ actions.
“It is bittersweet. I wish I could do it, but God has a plan,” he stated. “I just want to say thank you to everybody… who is helping my family at a time when we are hurting.”
Photos show Mark with his family as his neighbors brought in the harvest:
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website, sugar beets are grown in four regions that include the states of Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
Mark’s wife, Charlene, said the community coming together to help their family “means everything.”
“You don’t want a horrible disease like this, but when people step up like this, we were just amazed. We are so thankful. This is love in action,” she explained.
Ryan Holy, Mark’s son, said they were leaving some of the beets for the family to harvest themselves in hopes they could do it together.
“Hopefully, he can be in the field one more time,” he said of his beloved father.
In 2020, a group of farmers in North Dakota put their own fields on hold to harvest 1,000 acres for a neighbor who suffered a heart attack when his combine caught on fire, Breitbart News reported.