Doctors recently diagnosed Doug Pezold’s son with leukemia
By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com
A farming community from Montgomery County, Illinois has rallied around a local farm family that received some sad news.
Doug Pezold, who grows corn and soybeans in Walshville, Ill., with his father and brother, recently learned that doctors diagnosed his son, Layton, with leukemia.
And splitting time between the hospital and his fields can be difficult, Pezold said.
“We’re hanging in there. It’s tough, but we’re getting through it,” he told KSDK yesterday.
Knowing Pezold needed to spend time with his family and still finish harvest, other local farmers got together to lend a hand or, in this case, a combine.
“This is (his) entire wages and income for the entire year,” Robby Meyer, one of the volunteer farmers, told KSDK. “That’s the thing. He has to collect his money.”
Other farmers brought tractors, grain carts and semis to help harvest Pezold’s crop.
And the less work Pezold needs to do, the more time he can spend with his son, says Corey Johnson, a producer from Litchfield.
Pezold understands how busy harvest time is, making the outpouring of support from other farmers a little more special.
“I’ve known we’ve always had very good friends who would do anything for us, as we would for them,” he told KSDK. “But it’s their busy time of the year too, and some of them aren’t done (harvesting) and they came to help me. I’m very appreciative.”
Word of the farmers’ generosity also spread to social media.
Members of the community, like Beck Ann, posted messages of support to the Facebook page Pezold Strong, which the family is using to post updated about Layton’s condition.
“What an outstanding group of men,” she wrote.
“Farmers really have a way of being there when it’s needed!” added Kelly Sinclair.
Top photo: This group of farmers helped Doug Pezold with his harvest/Facebook