Every town has people who can’t go anywhere without bumping into someone they know.

Terry Everett is one of those people.

Whether it’s through his volunteerism with the Mahoning Valley Fire Company or just his general good-heartedness, Everett has become a community icon, a fact that was driven home after tragedy struck in November.

The incident

Terry, 54, of Mahoning Township is a heavy equipment mechanic for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Farming, however, is a family tradition.

“It’s a hobby for Terry,” his wife Kelly said. “It relaxes him.”

In October, Terry took a day off work during “push time” to get off his corn crop. Around 3:30 p.m., while on the phone, Kelly heard the fire whistle blow.

A phone call from her son alerted her that “it was Terry, and it was bad.”

She rushed to the farm, a few miles from their residence, to learn Terry’s arm had been caught in a corn picker.

“The rollers that take the corn cob off had become jammed,” Kelly said. “Terry had unclogged them three or four times earlier in the day, but what was different this time is he had put on his flannel shirt because it was getting colder later in the afternoon.”

Terry’s arm was trapped for about 30 minutes until neighbors of the farm heard him screaming for help.

Another 45 minutes was spent freeing him. All the while a medical helicopter was waiting to transport him from the scene. Kelly credited Mahoning Township officer Jeff Frace and others with helping free Terry through the use of a torch kit to aid in cutting the equipment apart.

His right hand and lower wrist were crushed in the accident and he was flown to Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, where hand surgeons worked to save what they could.

Though one of Terry’s fingers could not be saved, Dr. Adam Strohl, a plastic surgeon, worked feverishly to rebuild his hand.

“They got to talking and the surgeon knew how important Terry’s hand was for him to continue to be a mechanic,” Kelly said.

After getting home from Philadelphia on a Wednesday, Terry was sent back to Lehigh Valley Hospital on Thursday for more treatment with a fear of infection. He returned home again on Saturday.

Altogether, the treatment included a reconstructed middle finger with four pins holding everything in place, two skin grafts, multiple surgeries, 15 hyperbaric oxygen therapy sessions and two-and-a-half months of physical therapy.

Community support

Since the incident didn’t happen at work, there was no disability insurance in play for the Everetts, yet medical bills continued to mount.

PennDOT is required to hold Terry’s job for a year, but his health insurance would only be good for six months without returning to work.

There is an option, Kelly said, for Terry’s co-workers to donate vacation days, but you have to exhaust all other options first.

“His co-workers are lining up waiting to do that,” she added.

Over 300 people attended a spaghetti dinner at Mahoning Valley in January, which raised around $3,600 for the family.

“We were just blown away,” Kelly said. “People we had no personal relationship with were there. People don’t know how lucky they are to live in a small town. When the chips are down, you want to be here. You want to be in Lehighton.”

Neal Ebbert said Terry helped out the fire company behind closed doors by working on equipment.

“He was a big part of getting our Hahn truck back on the road,” Ebbert said. “We just wanted to do something for him. He’s been a big fire company supporter for a number of years.”

The support of the community extended far beyond the dinner, and even a GoFundMe (https://www.gofundme.com/b2xeec-terry-everett) that raised several thousand dollars.

Kelly described a day when the family returned home to find an envelope in their door. “Merry Christmas, From Santa Claus,” it read. Inside was $500.

While visiting the farm where the accident occurred, Terry reflected on all the generosity.

“I want to thank anyone who did anything for me,” he said. “They’ll never know how much their generosity means to me. From rides to Philadelphia to monetary donations to food, people have been so generous.”

Terry spent time plowing driveways of friends and even those he doesn’t know.

“He is so loyal to the community,” Kelly said. “He’ll drive by and see someone’s driveway not plowed and he’ll just do it.”

In the wake of the accident, Terry apologized to first responders that over “the aggravation he put them through.”

“He felt personally responsible,” Kelly said. “Any number of things could have gone differently and he could have died, but it’s Terry nature to take responsibility.”

The future

The fundraisers have helped the family scrape by paying bills and putting gas in the car.

“We’re like 75 percent of the families in Lehighton,” Kelly said. “We live paycheck to paycheck. There are people who are living, struggling, just like we are and they gave significant amounts of money to help us. How can you say thank you for that? Nothing I say can express how lucky we are to have such wonderful people in this community.”

Three area churches also stepped up to provide the Everetts with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. The family also received donations of deer during hunting season since Terry could not participate in the fall.

“I am worried about where we go from here,” Kelly said. “Terry is trying to get back to work, but he’s the kind of guy that doesn’t want to be at diminished capacity. All I want is for him to be whole again.”

Terry’s hand is completely healed as far as the skin is concerned, but mobility is another story. He still can’t completely close his hand.

“Everything moves but not as far as I would like it to,” he said. “I have a little bit of grip, but I’m still working on the strength.”

As for farming, Terry said he intends to be back at it this fall.