Farmers In North Dakota Complete Harvest For Neighbor After He Suffers Heart Attack

Sep 30, 2020

This September, 57-year-old Lane Unhjem suffered a devastating heart attack while working on his North Dakota farm. While he was in the hospital, 60 volunteers, which included other farmers, offered to help harvest his crops.

The hardworking people who live in rural areas are famous for their kindness, compassion, and generosity. And as you're about to see, when one farmer suffered a heart attack that left him unable to complete his work on the farm, farmers pitched in to save the day.

According to local resident Don Anderson, who broke the story on Facebook, a farmer named Lane Unhjem had been working in the fields when his combine suddenly caught fire. This would be catastrophic enough, but when he was trying to fight off the flames, Unhjem suffered a heart attack and was immediately flown to the hospital. When Anderson made the Facebook post, Unhjem was still in the hospital, so it's safe to say that this was pretty serious.

And without Unhjem, there was no one to harvest the fields. The yearly harvest is a farmer's livelihood, and without it, Unhjem's farm could have folded altogether. Can you imagine being a farmer trying to find another job in this economy?

Luckily, his neighboring farmers decided to step in.

Everyone who lives in a rural community knows that everybody knows everybody. It didn't take long for the news to spread around the area, and when Unhjem's fellow farmers heard that he was out of commission, they knew they had to do something about it.

And in an unexpected act of kindness, CBS reported that they got together and arrived at Unhjem's farm with all the equipment they needed to start harvesting. 60 farmers arrived with combines, semi-trucks, grain carts, and all the other equipment they needed to work in the fields. They assured Unhjem's family that they would take care of the harvest while he recovered in the hospital.

And this was a promise that they kept. By the end of the day, they had harvested all the grain and stored it away in the grain bins. It took them seven hours to harvest a whopping 1,000 acres of farmland. Now that's some impressive teamwork!

The group of farmers also posed for a picture, which will surely be treasured by the Unhjem family for months and years to come. We can't imagine anything more compassionate and generous.

Don Anderson's post about the story has received thousands of "likes" and hundreds of comments. A GoFundMe page was set up by his daughter, Samantha Coates, who gives regular updates on how her father is doing. 

According to her latest updates, Unhjem is still in an out of the hospital as of this month, but is still going strong! 

Were you as touched by this heartwarming story of family and community as we were? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below. If you know someone who needs a little pick-me-up today, send them this story to revive their faith in humanity.