A U.S. veteran, quadruple amputee Taylor Morris, was traveling through McCarran Airport in Las Vegas with his wife, when his prosthetic knee suddenly broke down. His tool kit was out of reach, packed in his luggage, but luckily the lead aircraft mechanic for American Airlines was able to come to the rescue.
“Normally we just fix airplanes and don’t interface with passengers,” said Keith Duffner who received a call for help from a colleague upstairs.
“Occasionally we provide tape or glue for an interim repair (but) on this call, a traveling military veteran was in need of a wrench to adjust his artificial leg.”
It took a few minutes to loosen the screws, and then his wife and Duffner realigned the foot.
“What I did wasn’t much,” he said on the McCarran Airport Facebook Page when they contacted him for details. “We all are in debt to him and his family for sacrificing in service to us.”
Taylor Morris, it turns out, doesn’t waste his life feeling sorry for himself. His enthusiasm for service led him to organize the second annual 5K Glow Stick race to raise money to help someone else.
Close to 1,000 glowing supporters took to the streets in Cedar Falls, Iowa to run in the evening 5K on Saturday, August 23. They raised around $7,000 and race participants voted on which deserving person should get the money.
A 1-year-old girl named Lily, who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type one, was named the winner. When Lily’s dad was brought on stage, he gave a touching speech and ended it by saying their family would like to divide the $7,000 with each of the other 5 nominees.
Learn more at TaylorMorris.org.