Thousands Gather For Benefit To Help Injured Dallas Firefighter
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A Dallas firefighter critically injured battling a house fire last month continues his slow and painful recovery. But, Jeff Patterson got the best kind of medicine Saturday: an outpouring of support from colleagues and friends.
Everyone knows that Lower Greenville loves a good party and the one held at the Truck Yard in Dallas on Saturday was a shoulder-to-shoulder, jam-packed affair.
The event was a party with a purpose – to help injured firefighter Jeff Patterson.
Patterson is part of the Engine 44 Team, but also a member of a much larger family. Firefighters from across the department, from across North Texas and as far away as Amarillo came to Dallas to support him. Those hundreds of people don't include the many friends, neighbors and even high school classmates that helped pushed attendance at the benefit into the thousands.
Organizers were of course thrilled with the turnout but said there was just one goal -- to make sure Patterson's family is well taken care of while he recovers.
"We have a maid service there. We have meals delivered everyday to the house and the hospital. We have a plumber and a carpenter on standby. We're mowing his yard every week," explained Mike McLemore, with the Dallas Firefighter's Association. "We want him to have no worries, other than getting better."
Among the attendees was Jeff Patterson's mother, Carolyn Beall. "He's got a beautiful wife and two lovely children to fight for and he is a fighter," she said. "It's going to give him that push to go forward and keep working as hard as he's working."
Family members told CBS 11 News that Patterson remains hospitalized in stable but still critical condition.
Everyone realizes Patterson has a long recovery ahead of him. But members of his firefighter brotherhood say they'll be beside him and his family for as long as it takes.
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