Cancer-Riddled Veteran Sets Out To Buy Shovel, Employee Leaves To Help Him Bury 12-Year-Old Dog
When an elderly veteran walked into a Cleveland, Mississippi, Ace Hardware store, the young employee that helped him find what he was looking for was compelled to do even more.
The veteran came in looking for a simple item: a shovel. As Sam Coleman-Dancer, 19, walked with the man to the back of the store, the veteran shared that he needed the shovel to bury his beloved German Shepard.
Coleman-Dancer, thinking of his own grandfather, expressed his concerns about how hot it was outside.
“I thought of my grandfather who has been a little under the weather and I thought that if it was my grandfather and I was not there to help him out, somebody offering to help would be amazing,” the teen said.
“So more on an emotional level, where I felt that it was my duty to help Mr. Milton Lowe.”
He asked the veteran if he could wait until his shift was finished. He then promised to drive over to the elderly man’s house so he could bury the dog for him.
Sam kept his promise and drove the man’s house after work, and his kind act turned out to be more meaningful than he could’ve imagined.
While there, the veteran told him that he was just recently diagnosed with cancer and was receiving treatments in Memphis, Tennessee.
When the veteran asked if he could repay the teen, Coleman-Dancer just said, “Yeah, by taking a picture with me.”
The picture was later shared on Cleveland’s Ace Hardware’s Facebook page. “We have an excellent staff and good hearted people that work for us and go out of their way to make sure our customers are taken care of,” the caption read.
The veteran was not the only one impacted in the end. Coleman-Dancer was also able to glean some wisdom from the elderly veteran.
“Something he said stuck with me. He told me that great things come to you at unexpected times and we both smiled,” he recalled. “Definitely something we will both remember.”
Submit your story here, and subscribe to our best uplifting stories here.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
