Love and Support for The Pruitt Family

Samuel Pruitt and Landon Rector after bone marrow transplant on 6/17/2024

Life is a journey, lives can be filled with storms, gales and the blowing winds. Many times, unexpected gales of life threaten to undo us and overcome us. We all know of the Rector family who is suffering through illness and heartbreaking difficulties. What we may have not noticed is the support system and glue that has held things together through this storm of life for the Rector family. Their never wavering support and God’s grace have been there helping Darrell and Mary face all the storms surrounding them. These are the people behind the scenes keeping things together so that Darrell and Mary can focus on Lucy and Landon and their health. Mary’s sister, Crystal and her family have been the glue helping hold things together here at home and helping in Maryland. Crystal’s son, Sam is preparing to donate lifesaving bone marrow to Landon. Sam has traveled to Maryland several times for appointments and now will travel back on June 2nd with Landon for the transplant that will take place on June 17th. Sam works for Alleghany Garbage Service, has been a member of the Glade Creek Fire Dept. since the age of fourteen and is currently a captain there. Sam has already missed many days of work and will miss at least two weeks after the transplant, if everything goes well. Sam has four small children to support. The entire Pruitt family have been at home, making sure Levi, Landon and Lani are fed, have clean clothes to wear, attend school when they are able and have tried to give them some sort of normalcy. Robbie has served as the transporter of the Rector children to and from the hospital in Maryland. He probably knows the way by heart. Robbie is also on the Glade Creek Fire Dept., a part-time Alleghany Telecommunications Dispatcher and serves as a safety officer and assists with the county’s first responders. The night of the Rector family fundraiser at Glade Creek School, a call came in. Robbie and another member left without hesitation to help a member of the community in need. This family serves our community with dedication and a caring spirit. In the middle of all of this Mary and Crystal’s father had a stroke. He also has dementia. The girls were unable to help their mother because they were both far away. They were torn and upset that they could not be with their elderly parents. Robbie helped with making decisions for their father’s care. Now that he was ready to be discharged from the rehab center, Robbie and Crystal moved him and their mother into the Pruitt home to help care for him. He is not having an easy time settling into his new surroundings. Please pray that this transition improves for them all. Crystal has been in Maryland the entire time until this past week when she came home to take care of some things for her parents and take Landon back to Maryland for more pre-transplant appointments. She had to stop driving her bus at Glade Creek School. She misses “her” school kids and they miss her. Crystal has always been willing to help at the school. She volunteers to help with our quarterly, student celebrations or any other event she can help with. She helps in the concession stand. If she ever noticed any students that did not have money to purchase a snack, she would always pay for them to have one or two. She keeps the laundry done in Maryland using a washer and dryer at the hotel they now call home. She is there to stay with Lucy when Darrell and Mary are exhausted. This allows them to go across the street to rest at the hotel. Crystal always tries to stay upbeat and tries to see the positive things in the difficult moments. Crystal is also the person keeping all the updates about Lucy, Landon, Levi and Sam flowing. They are going through a great deal as well. Through all of this, I have not heard one complaint or any mention about their own struggles and needs. The Pruitt family have lost wages and will continue to miss work until Lucy and Landon are able to come home “hopefully” in late July. They could really use some support. If you can help them out financially, it would be greatly appreciated. If you can’t, please keep them all in your prayers. Through the tough times and all of the unknowns, the Pruitt family will be there to support the Rector family in this difficult journey. Many thanks to our awesome community and surrounding areas that has been very generous and caring to all of them. God bless.

"Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." Galatians 6:9