Update on Matthew Leone, the young bassist beaten into a coma while rescuing a battered woman

Image: Altpress

'Events like this, while traumatic and painful, force you to stop and reevaluate, and there’s beauty in that.'

So says Matthew Leone, who was severely beaten while stopping a domestic attack last June (and whose story I shared with you in August). I'm happy to be able to tell you he's doing much, much better!

A couple of months ago, the prognosis was uncertain for Matthew: his doctors were unsure whether he'd be walking and talking within a year, and whether or not he'd ever fully recover his memory. Now, he's up and about, and looking forward to going back out on tour with his band Madina Lake in early spring. Concerned fans and others set up benefit shows and other fundraisers to pay his extensive medical costs. The outpouring of love and support he received 'was a demonstration of compassion and generosity and selflessness in a world where selfishness prevails,' Matthew said.

More than 40 farmers volunteer to harvest their ill neighbor's crop

Image: GraniteFallsNews.com

Last Tuesday, dozens of farmers rose early, and rolled out with their combines, grain carts, and other equipment ready for the 360 acre harvest. But this time, they didn't work their own fields; instead, they gathered at City Hall to plan and finish the harvest of Robert Thompson's crop, another local farmer who's hospital-bound.

This isn't even the first time these farmers have helped each other out: “There’s been four or five times, since I’ve started farming, that things like this have happened and every time word gets out everybody drops whatever they’re doing and comes running,” Tim Velde remembers.