Employees at a Home Depot in North Texas went the extra mile to make life easier for a two-year-old boy with special needs. The toddler, Silus Johnson suffers from Norrie Disease, an illness that leaves him blind and hinders muscle development making walking a difficult feat.
Silus’s grandfather wanted to build him a custom walker since store bought walkers were too small for the two-year-old. He went to the local Home Depot in Richland Hills to grab the necessary tools when three random strangers decided to lend a helping hand.
In the beginning, assistant manager Matthew Spencer approached Silus’ grandfather just kind of asking him what he was working on. The grandfather then told Spencer about Silus’s walker and the boy’s disease when it moved him.
The assistant manager then called his tool technician, Chris Wright and tool rental supervisor, Eric Bindel to help craft a walker for the family.
Upon hearing the story, “I have a 2-year-old of my own and so does Chris,” said Bindel. “I just dove right into it and said just drop it right there, give us his dimensions and we’ll get everything going for you and build it for free”
The Home Depot employees were touched by little Silus. After two days and working on their day off, the Home Depot dads finished building the custom walker.
Wright, the kind of “genius” behind the design with using PVC pipes said, “I used the foam around the edges to make it soft, rope to secure the seat… reflective tape on it to kind of help it stand out if they’re out in public or something so that way you can see him.”
The crew delivered the walker to little Silus last week where the mother was clearly touched. She said, “We need to recognize these gentlemen who put their heart and hard work into making this for my son.”
“As soon as we put him in there, it was just really cool,” said Eric Bindel. “He started feeling around on it. You could tell he was happy. He was excited, basically. He started laughing and then started using his little feet to push himself backwards. I had a big smile. Everybody had a big smile, maybe a couple little tears here and there.”
What also to note about the custom walker is that Wright designed it so that as the child grew, the pipes on the side can be lifted so that it can match Silus’s height. This man really put some thought into this project.
What a touching act by some fine gentlemen. They didn’t even know the family but upon hearing the circumstances, they went beyond what was required of them as workers. Very heartwarming, very touching. The world needs more people like you guys.
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