For the first time in 50 years, farmer Larry Yockey wasn’t going to be able to harvest his wheat crop because he has stage 4 cancer. But dozens of his fellow farmers stepped in to do the work and save his crop. The fourth-generation farmer in Ritzville, Washington says he usually does the harvesting by himself, but he was diagnosed with melanoma that has now spread to his bones, leaving him with a broken hip and broken ribs, and cutting the time he can spend working the fields.
Yockey was afraid he wouldn’t be able to handle the harvest and shared his concerns with his neighbors. They told him not to worry and organized help, bringing dozens of vehicles full of farmers ready to work the fields and run the machines. Miles Pfaff, one of the neighbors who pitched in, said that "harvest bees" like this are not that unusual in the farming community. Together the neighbors managed to finish three weeks worth of work in about eight hours. Larry says, “The people who helped with his harvest say they do not want to be thanked, but " 'thank you' really doesn't even do justice here."