Farmers harvest wheat crop for neighbor battling stage 4 cancer
A 1,200 acre farm in Ritzville, Washington, was invaded over the weekend by around 60 neighbors. It was harvest time for Larry Yockey's wheat.
But Yockey, 63, is battling stage 4 skin cancer and could no longer work his fields. When fellow farmers in Adams County found out, they got to work organizing a harvest for the fourth-generation farmer. Mike Doyle was among them.
"I'm just glad to be here and help where I can and where I'm needed," Doyle said.
The neighbors did three weeks worth of work in just six hours as Yockey, his wife and their three daughters looked on in awe.
"It's not describable the gratitude I have for what's going on," Yockey said.
Between Yockey and his daughters, their family knew everyone who came to help.
"I plan to be the fifth generation out farming our grounds some day, so yesterday we had a few moments that were bittersweet for the both of us," Yockey's daughter Amanda said.
Turns out he had a bumper crop of good neighbors in the heart of wheat country.