Firefighters to the Rescue: Cut Elderly Man's Lawn After He Falls Off Mower
"That's the kind of people we have here in our town," Roy Haley said.
— -- Monday, April 4, was a beautiful day in Borger, Texas, less than six hours northwest of Dallas.
All Roy Haley, 81, wanted to do on that sunny day was leave the confines of his recliner and its steady embrace, and get on his lawnmower. The grass needed cutting, and although he admits to having "poor circulation" in his legs, Haley thought, with a little care and precaution, he could get the job done.
"I just felt so useless, and I bought me a lawnmower, and I thought that I could get on it," Haley told ABC News. "And I finally did."
But Haley's legs would soon give out. He "backed into a barrel," he said, before tumbling to the ground. His distraught wife dialed 911. Her husband needed help, and he needed it right then and there.
An EMS crew treated Haley and gave him the all-clear. His condition turned out to be not so serious, but the story didn't end there. It continues with the Borger Fire Department.
"One of my firefighters noticed that a little part of the yard got missed and so we decided to mow that part," Shift Capt. Shawn Burleson said, "and then another one of the firefighters noticed that the front yard hadn't even been mowed yet, and asked if we could mow that."
Burleson said the work was divided among all four firefighters who were on the truck, including himself, because they did not want Haley to think about getting back on that lawnmower, and risk getting seriously injured the next time around.
As for Haley, he is forever grateful.
"That's the kind of people we have here in our town," he said. "If you're a senior citizen, I guarantee you, someone in this town will help you."
Either way, Haley says he knows one thing for sure: not to get back on the lawnmower anytime soon.