WVVA Hometown Hero: Greenbrier County contractor helps terminal cancer patient
FAIRLEA, W.Va. (WVVA) - The kindness of a total stranger makes a big difference for a woman living with a terminal cancer diagnosis in Fairlea, West Virginia. The actions of our latest Hometown Hero are not only a testament to how a little compassion can go a long way, but it also shows us the right time for a good deed is right now.
November 2022 marked the start of a season of loss for Carol Hoover and her family. That’s when her son died after losing a fight with colon cancer. Then in January 2023 her husband passed away. Hoover’s daughter, Ruth Hoover Gregory says the family’s grief did not stop there. “The same week I lost daddy we found out I had the bone cancer,” Gregory said with sigh of acceptance. Gregory celebrated her 58th birthday on August 1 and seems resigned to the notion she would not see her 59th. This was not her first fight with cancer, having survived a bout with breast cancer, but the bone cancer had spread beyond any meaningful reach of a medical cure. Her mother was sharing her plight with a doctor, talking about the new challenges she faced following Ruth’s grim prognosis. Her daughter’s mobility would become an issue and her home was ill-equipped for it. “I didn’t know how we were going to be able to handle getting her in and out without the ramp. And, like I said, I was asking about it, and it was a miracle that his mother heard me talking to the doctor,” said Hoover.
Mrs. Hoover is talking about the woman who nominated our hometown hero, Mitchell Fisher. Mitchell’s mother, Barbara Fisher overheard the dilemma and contacted her son directly. Mitchell is the co-owner of a contracting company. “I just felt a tug at my heart. It was like something was telling me to help her. So, I just, after she got finished there, I took one of Mitchell’s cards out and put his name on it and everything. I called him in the meantime, and told him, you know, this lady is going to be calling you and he took it from there, nonstop,” Fisher said beaming with pride in her son. He says he went right to work, starting with soliciting donations for the materials he would need to build a ramp for their single-wide mobile home. The younger Fisher says it wasn’t hard to approach the people he knew could help him. “I have a personal relationship with most of the lumber companies around here and they help me a lot, “Mitchell said.
Within a month from the start, the ramp rose from the ground to the front door of the Hoover’s home, built on a foundation of kindness and generosity from a village of builders willing to give to a stranger in need. “I just want to send out a special thanks to everyone that did contribute to this and to the patriots motorcycle club, to Lowe’s, Neathawks, and Penny Pinchers, they all pitched in to help get this done. Without them, I couldn’t have done this,” Mitchell said. But the payoff for everyone who had a hand in helping Greory and her mother is genuine gratitude Gregory and Hoover expressed, especially because Fisher’s finishing touch was a roof over the front door they didn’t ask for. " He said, you know, we’ll put the roof on it and everything. And I just looked at it and it was awesome! That’s the only thing I could say. God brought Mitchell to us for that,” Gregory said of the completed project, sincere gratitude gleaming in her eyes as they welled with tears that didn’t fall.
Mitchell Fisher’s giving is what makes him a WVVA Hometown Hero because he shared his talent and network of building support just in time. His ramp for the Ruth Hoover Gregory was completed in time for her to enjoy it a couple of weeks, no one knew it was finished in the very sunset of her life.
Gregory lost her fight with bone cancer September 10, 2023.
Copyright 2023 WVVA. All rights reserved.
