When they learned a colleague’s wife faced unanticipated bills stemming from emergency surgery, workers at the Rite Aid in Dallas did more than just wish the couple good luck.
On a fall day, they held a $5-a-plate potluck lunch and raffle for pharmacist Mark Smith. They collected $6,500, enough to help their friend make ends meet after surgery that saved the life of his wife, Suzanne Smith.
“I was about to lose my mind,” said Smith, who’s worked for four years at a Rite Aid in Dallas, 10 miles west of Marietta. “I don’t know what I’d done without this help.”
Suzanne Smith went into WellStar Kennestone Hospital on June 26, complaining of stomach pains. Physicians originally thought the 41-year-old had a burst appendix, but discovered she had a potentially fatal infection that threatened several organs. Doctors treated Suzanne, then put her in a drug-induced coma for two weeks to let her stabilize.
While she was in that coma, the blood circulation in Smith’s legs and hands was restricted, killing tissue.
Physicians had to remove both legs below her knees. They also amputated fingers. Suzanne Smith, mother of boys 12, 8 and 6, would have to learn how to walk on artificial legs. She’d also have to find a new way to bandage scraped knees.
At the same time, her husband faced some big bills following the surgery.
Pharmacy technician Hope Lawrence rallied her colleagues. They contacted their friends as well as customers and other employees at neighboring Rite Aids.
“We had people asking, ‘How can we help?’ ” Lawrence recalled. “We had to do something.”
The fundraiser was so popular that the organizers ran out of food. A nearby barbecue restaurant sent more.
Suzanne Smith is back home now. She has prosthetic legs that she’s learning to work. She remains, said her husband, “upbeat and positive.”
And Smith has a positive feeling, too. He works with friends, not just people who clock in for eight-hour shifts.
“In this day and time, it seems that everybody is just focused on themselves and their family,” Smith said. “I didn’t expect all this.”
“He needed our help,” said Dawna Moreno, the store’s manager. “This store is like a family. We look after each other.”
About the heroes
Employees of the Rite Aid in Dallas are among 14 Holiday Heroes nominated by AJC readers for making a difference in their communities. Read their inspiring stories every day through Saturday.
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