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Elderly Man Called 911 for Food Because He Couldn't Move

What the operator did next will melt your heart.

ByABC News
May 13, 2015, 11:35 AM

— -- An elderly man who'd just returned home after months in the hospital said he was hungry, had no food and no one to turn to for help. So he dialed 911.

"I can't do anything. I can't go anywhere. I can't get out of my damn chair." Clarence Blackmon, 81, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, told the 911 operator, according to ABC station WTVD in Durham.

"I said, 'I'm not broken, I'm not bleeding, and I'm not in crisis. I just want somebody to help me buy some food,'" he told ABC News.

What the 911 operator did next will melt your heart.

"He was hungry," 911 operator Marilyn Hinson told WTVD. "I've been hungry. A lot of people can't say that, but I can, and I can't stand for anyone to be hungry."

An hour and a half later, Hinson showed up at Blackmon's door, carrying a box of groceries, Blackmon told ABC News. She had all his favorites: a head of cabbage, green beans, pickled beets and Pepsi. And then she stayed and made him a few ham sandwiches.

"I was overwhelmed," Blackmon said.

Blackmon had a stroke about a year and a half ago and said 911 operators saved his life, he said. He spent the past six months in a rehabilitation facility. He told WTVD he's also battling cancer.

Hinson gave him her number and told him to call if he needs anything.

"She is such a delightful lady," Blackmon said. "It's amazing. Us little people need a helping hand every once in a while. Most of the time, we get overlooked. We're still here."