On Oct. 16, 2018, your paper ran a story, as well as TV 13 News and WFMZ, regarding a local farmer who was injured while harvesting corn. He was trapped for a half-hour before neighbors heard him yelling.

The Mahoning Valley Fire Department and first responders came, and due to the complexity of the equipment it took quite a while to safely extract him.

His right hand and lower wrist were crushed, and the farmer was flown to Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia, where hand surgeons worked to save what they could. He is a “hobby” farmer. It’s not his full-time job. Since the accident didn’t happen at work, there was no disability to cover any of the now four-month loss of income. Medical expenses are, of course, mounting.

This farmer is my husband, Terry Everett, and we are writing this letter to try to express in some way our overwhelming gratitude to the local community, friends, businesses, family, EMTs, police, churches, our state representative, county commissioners, GoFundMe patrons and, most of all, everyone who volunteered at the fundraising dinner held for Terry by the Mahoning Valley Fire Company on Feb. 2.

The turnout was unbelievable at more than 300 spaghetti dinners served! As Terry continues to recover from the loss of a finger, two skin grafts, the total reconstruction on another finger and four operations, with another on the horizon, we have learned one thing above all … we are well and truly blessed.

I don’t think we could have made it this far without the support and love and prayers we have been given, and I am sorry that all I know to do is say bless you all, thank you all, and I am glad it happened at home in Lehighton, where I understand now the true FEELING behind the word “Hometown Pride.”

Terry and Kelly Everett

Lehighton