The Brightside: Farming Angels
DELMAR, Del. – While farming is a way of life on Delmarva, many community members might not realize how tight-knit the farming community truly is.
One family expresses gratitude to their fellow farmers after experiencing it first-hand. “Farmers, they’re family, it’s a different breed, farmers are a different breed than other jobs, it’s a livelihood, it’s a lifestyle,” says Sharon Cooper, who also says that she and farmer husband Bryan’s livelihood is still going thanks to other farmers in the community.
A near-death experience for Bryan turned into a glimpse at just how tight-knit the farming community is. On June 25th, Bryan experienced a major cardiac event, his wife tells us, he had what doctors call a heart block. “At one point, all 10 people went running in there – his heart rate dropped to 20, they had to rush him to ICU and he was in ICU for four days,” explains Sharon.
Although worried about Bryan’s health, his farm was in the back of both his and his wife’s minds. “I can remember being in the ambulance and leaving here and just wondering which irrigation I had on when’s it going to stop and who’s going to realize it’s sitting there running,” says Bryan. His wife exclaims, “Oh my gosh, the farms going to burn up, the crops are going to burn up!”
However, little did they know, that while Bryan was medically being taken care of, he had a few farmer neighbors or for the story’s sake, ‘angels’ who had a plan in the works. “From the initial phone call in about 20 minutes, we had it all figured out and what we were going to do, we just put it into motion and we told each other just take care of it like it’s your own,” says Jay Rider, a local farmer.
With that, a group of eight farmers, Charles Wright IV, Charles Wright V, Jay Rider, Pete Gaines, Adam Dickerson, James Dickerson, Zak Dickerson, and Rick Dickerson, without even asking – stepped up and cared for Bryan’s farm. “I got a text from Charles Wright who said, he just heard about Bryan, don’t worry about the farm, just take care of him, get him healthy, we’ve got him covered.,” says Sharon. She goes on to explain, “We’ve had to do nothing except pray and thank them. Her husband adds, “It’s good to see how they all pulled together and got it done, makes you realize that if that happens, you’d want to do the same thing for them.”
Rider and Wright IV tell WMDT, it was a matter of seeing what needed to be done and doing it. “It took about 24 hours to figure out Bryan’s method on a few things but once we kind of figured it out, it was good and we could go on forward with it and move everything that needed to be moved,” says Rider. Wright IV adds, “It’s not a surprise to me because it’s just how we are, it’s what you do, they’re your neighbors, they’re your friends, something needs doing, we’re doing kind of people.”
We’re told Bryan is a one-man band so to speak and has been farming since he was 10 years old. As Wright IV says, it truly took all eight of them to fill his shoes.
This ordeal – we’re told gave every single person involved – a new perspective on life – and a whole new appreciation for the farming community. “For us to somehow just very small tell them how much we appreciate what they’ve done,” says Sharon.
Wright IV says we’re thankful that we could be a little part, of Bryans here and he’s going to keep right on farming.
Those involved tell us other farmers lend a helping hand or are on stand-by when need be. While Bryan may soon be able to farm again, he does say it’s been nice to take some downtime and spend more time with his family.
