Dave Urban, a hardware store employee, inspired people when he went out of his way to help his customer and created something life changing.
Dave, who works at the Lowe’s store in Delaware, encountered the Getty family in the PVC aisle and immediately offered his assistance to help them find what they needed.
He took the initiative to go above and beyond simply serving his customers after hearing the purpose of what they were building.
The Gettys were putting up parallel bars so their son, William, could practice walking.
Jessica Getty, William’s mom, said that her son was born prematurely at 23 weeks; thus, he was born with quadriplegic spastic cerebral palsy.
“One of our goals for William is to get him walking,” Jessica said.
William’s condition moved Dave that he spent half an hour in the hardware store cutting and fitting the PVC to ensure that everything was correct to help the child start walking.
“Then came the test. Will got up, out of his wheelchair, and grabbed hold of those bars. I think you saw that courageous smile of his. Sense of pride, ah, it keeps getting me,” Dave said with teary eyes.
Watching the video, Dave noticed William’s “courageous smile” as he tested the bar and said he felt a “sense of pride” in seeing the child benefit from his work.
According to the Getty family, William could practice walking both forward and sideways on the bars that Dave built. Moreover, it would teach the boy how to stand up.
The boy’s family described Dave’s assistance as “life-changing,” They stated they would be eternally thankful to have met him.
“I just think that Dave was really nice to help my little brother build these things to help him,” William’s sister, Olivia, said.
After just a day of practicing, William can already walk to the end of the bars.
His video went viral on social media groups and pages that share inspiring stories.
A video was recorded a day after the Gettys brought the bars into their home from the hardware store, showcasing the rapid improvement in William’s walking practice.
The news report featuring William’s video walking to the end of the bars became popular on social media pages devoted to sharing positive stories about people in the news industry.
“It was really cool,” Mark Getty added. Jessica Getty echoed her husband, saying: “It was just kindness that touched us and really meant the world to us.”
Since Dave built the parallel bars for William, Jessica told the Guardian that William has been practicing his steps every day, The Guardian noted.
Dave said meeting William and his parents by chance at the hardware store was just as important to him as it was to them.
“Just go the extra mile,” Dave said. “And it just may reward you 100 times back.”
Meanwhile, on another story over, 600 miles away from Delaware, a family from Georgia visited a hardware store with their 2-year-old son, Logan.
Logan has hypotonia, which affects his muscular tone and makes it difficult to maintain balance.
A gait trainer was recommended by his therapist to assist with his walking, but the family was worried that their insurance would cover it.
To help him, his family watched a video on how to construct a walker from PVC tubing and gave it to Logan, hoping it would improve his gait.
They went to a hardware store to buy the materials, and a fantastic thing awaited them.
The staff and manager at this store went out of their way and helped the customer construct a walker rather than just selling them the materials and letting them go.
“They started getting the parts together and told us they would put it together and would not charge us for it,” said Christian Moore, Logan’s mom.
“They told us to go get ice cream and come back in an hour,” she added.
“I couldn’t believe they were willing to do that. It took everything I had not to cry because it hasn’t been an easy road for my son. He has had a hard time doing things that would be easy for most children his age,” Christian said.
They built Logan a perfect walker, and the smile on his face is truly heartwarming!
“There are so many children out there with hypotonia, more than you would think,” Christian added. “I am grateful to be able to share that there are still good people around to help.”
Check out Dave and William’s wonderful news video below:
