Teh One Who Knocks
07-17-2014, 11:23 AM
Jay Hathaway - Gawker
http://i.imgur.com/e59QMol.jpg
Michael Sulsona, a Vietnam War veteran who lost both legs to a land mine 40 years ago, has been struggling with the Department of Veterans Affairs for the last two years in an attempt to get his worn-out wheelchair replaced. Last week, during a trip to a Staten Island Lowe's, his chair broke down again.
According to a letter Sulsona sent to the Staten Island Advance, three of the store's employees moved quickly to help him, setting him up with a temporary chair while they got to work fixing his.
He wrote:
They took the wheelchair apart and replaced the broken parts and told me, "We're going to make this chair like new."
I left 45 minutes after closing hours in my wheelchair that was like new.
I kept thanking them and all they could say was, "It was our honor."
The actions of these three employees at Lowe's showed me there are some who still believe in stepping to the plate.
They didn't ask any questions, didn't feel the need to fill out any forms or make phone calls. Someone needed help and they felt privileged to be given the opportunity.
The story caught the attention of the notoriously broken VA, which tried to save face by finally giving Sulsona the new wheelchair he had applied for years ago.
"I'd hate to cheapen what [the VA] did, but isn't that their job? I should have had the chair I was entitled to, but because of red tape, I never got a chair until now," Sulsona told The Advance.
http://i.imgur.com/a611phd.jpg
He prefers to keep the focus on the hardware store employees who dropped everything to help him out.
"This whole story is based around three good guys," he said. "I think it's really important that we all be like these people who wanted to help me; things would be so much easier."
http://i.imgur.com/e59QMol.jpg
Michael Sulsona, a Vietnam War veteran who lost both legs to a land mine 40 years ago, has been struggling with the Department of Veterans Affairs for the last two years in an attempt to get his worn-out wheelchair replaced. Last week, during a trip to a Staten Island Lowe's, his chair broke down again.
According to a letter Sulsona sent to the Staten Island Advance, three of the store's employees moved quickly to help him, setting him up with a temporary chair while they got to work fixing his.
He wrote:
They took the wheelchair apart and replaced the broken parts and told me, "We're going to make this chair like new."
I left 45 minutes after closing hours in my wheelchair that was like new.
I kept thanking them and all they could say was, "It was our honor."
The actions of these three employees at Lowe's showed me there are some who still believe in stepping to the plate.
They didn't ask any questions, didn't feel the need to fill out any forms or make phone calls. Someone needed help and they felt privileged to be given the opportunity.
The story caught the attention of the notoriously broken VA, which tried to save face by finally giving Sulsona the new wheelchair he had applied for years ago.
"I'd hate to cheapen what [the VA] did, but isn't that their job? I should have had the chair I was entitled to, but because of red tape, I never got a chair until now," Sulsona told The Advance.
http://i.imgur.com/a611phd.jpg
He prefers to keep the focus on the hardware store employees who dropped everything to help him out.
"This whole story is based around three good guys," he said. "I think it's really important that we all be like these people who wanted to help me; things would be so much easier."