Being a war veteran isn’t an easy life.
You never truly stop being a soldier, the things you’ve seen on the battlefield and the things you’ve experienced are forever ingrained in your memory.
In the United States alone, there are millions of veterans, most of which come from Florida, Texas and California and nearly 10 million of them are aged 65 or older.
The problem with veterans is that a great part of them ends up on the streets or living alone once they’ve returned from serving.
For example, veterans take up 12 percent of the adult homeless population and those numbers are terrifying.
Air Force veteran Roy Hyde was not homeless – but he was living in a near-empty apartment; a used mattress and a pink sofa from a charity shop essentially making up the sum total of his furniture.
Although Ron didn’t have many worldly possessions to his name, he was grateful for having a roof over his head.
You see, Ron had cancer and had been undergoing chemotherapy. In his battle, he’d recently decided to make a tough decision.
He had opted to stop the treatment.
Ron was unsure whether he would survive anyway, and, if he didn’t, he didn’t want his last few months of life to be defined by visits to the hospital and the sickness that comes with chemo.
He had tears in his eyes as he sat in his bare apartment contemplating a lonely passing.
For many, death is a taboo subject, despite the fact we know we’ll all experience it at some point.
Little did Ron know that his previous visit to the charity shop – to buy the very same sofa he was sitting on – would change his life.
When he had purchased the chair, he realised he had a problem. He didn’t know how to get it home, and nobody he knew could give him a ride.
Though unknown to Hyde when he bought it, that pink chair was a bigger blessing waiting to happen.
Eventually, he was assisted by a woman, Laura, from Ramon, California, USA. Laura posted on Facebook that there was vet who needed some help.
Bur Ron didn’t just get help with the chair…
The chair got delivered that day, but it is what happened two days later that brought Airforce Veteran Ron Hyde to his knees in tears.
Two days after the sofa was moved to his apartment, he saw a large truck pulling up outside his apartment complex.
Strangers from all around his neighborhood were there, as well.
The strangers filled Ron’s kitchen with food, replaced the old mattress with a proper bed and transformed his soulless apartment into a comfortable home with all he could want or need.
When Ron saw his apartment furnished with new things, he had to turn away from the camera because he didn’t want people to see the tears in his eyes.
”It’s been a little miracle,” Ron told ABC 10 News.
This ladies and gentlemen is what I mean when I say that a little act of kindness goes a long way!
Nobody knows how long Ron has left to live, but at least he can now spend his days in comfort.
How lucky Ron is that there were people close by who care. Thank you for your service. I will be praying for your health to improve.
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