Texas farmers came together to harvest 1,200 acres of cotton for their neighbor fighting cancer.
Greg Bishop will never be written down in a history book or applauded onstage at the Oscars. But in the west Texas community where he farms cotton, he is beloved.
He is fighting leukemia and undergoing chemotherapy, and wouldn't think of asking for help, though he would be the first to offer it to someone in need.
His cotton crop, covering 1,200 acres in Floyd County, was nearing harvest time and Bishop was told by his doctors not to do it.
So his neighbors got together and did it for him, bringing about $12 million worth of farming equipment to Bishop's spread. By 3 p.m. Monday, his crop was on its way to be ginned.
"He's a very good Christian man. Just a good-hearted man. He's very humble. He's just the best person," Aaron Hendricks, general manager of Floydada Co-Op Gins, told InsideEdition.com Thursday.
He's known Bishop for 25 years, and is not one to speak publicly, but he's agreed to be interviewed about the harvest because "I want everybody to know what kind of a guy Greg Bishop is, and how much people think of him," he said, his voice breaking.
As harvest time neared, the community knew that Bishop wouldn't be able to bring in his crop because chemo has so weakened his immune system he must stay indoors. So they had a meeting in Hendricks' office. About 35 to 40 people came, Hendricks said, and he had to turn away some of them.
"They all said, 'What can we do? We're ready to help.'"
Hendricks said he helped organize the group harvest by coordinating machinery and inspecting Bishop's fields to determine when the cotton was ripe for picking. Local companies offered to donate fuel for the equipment, but the farmers said no, they wanted to provide it themselves.
"We had people come from 100 miles northwest of us to help," Hendricks said. He spoke to Bishop on the phone Wednesday, for the first time since the harvest.
"He was just overwhelmed by what everybody did," Hendricks said. "He was in tears. He couldn't thank us enough for what we did."
There was no need, he said.
"Nobody wants any thanks," he said. "Everyone is just thankful to be able to do this for him."
Bishop remains in good spirits, his friend said. He is upbeat and cheerful most days. "He's fixing to go to Baylor, in Dallas, for 100 days. He's going to get a bone marrow transplant," Hendricks said. Several people have volunteered to be tested to see if their marrow is a match for Bishop.
"We've started a fund to raise money for him to stay in Dallas," Hendricks said. "Everyone wants to help."
RELATED STORIES
