Ray the Ray – Heroes of the Day -Lowe’s workers fix Vietnam vet’s wheelchair after work

A wheelchair bound Vietnam veteran who while shopping in a Staten Island Lowes found himself in a precarious situation when his device suddenly started coming apart as the store was closing.

Without even thinking about it, some kind employees took it upon themselves to stay after closing to repair the wheelchair.

Michael Sulsona, who’d lost both legs after stepping on a landmine, had been having trouble with the wheelchair, and on July 7th, while at the Lowes, it completely came apart from under him.

His problems were exasperated because the Department of Veterans Affairs would do nothing for him, even after repeatedly calling them to report the broken wheelchair.

No replacement – no nothing.

So to his shock and amazement, three employees of the store placed him in another wheelchair while they fixed the broken one.

He expressed his predicament and his gratitude to the employees in a letter to the Staten Island Advance – returning to the store with some homemade cookies and a framed picture of the three fixing the broken wheelchair.

It was the publication of the letter and the accompanying letter that got the VA off its ass and replaced the broken wheelchair.

In the letter Sulsona wrote to the Advance, he said:

"I kept thanking them and all they could say was, 'It was our honor,'" Sulsona wrote. "The actions of these three employees at Lowe's showed me there are some who still believe in stepping to the plate. They didn't ask any questions, didn't feel the need to fill out any forms or make phone calls. Someone needed help and they felt privileged to be given the opportunity."

Sulsona and his wife later returned to Lowe's to thank the employees with homemade cookies and a framed photo of them fixing the chair, according to the Staten Island Advance's Andrew Simontacchi.

Following Sulsona's letter, the Department of Veterans Affairs finally sent him the wheelchair replacement he had been waiting on for two years, according to Buzzfeed.

"We were very sorry to hear about the reported circumstances surrounding Mr. Sulsona’s request for a new wheelchair," a VA spokesperson told Buzzfeed.

"We quickly investigated and can report the Veteran’s new custom wheelchair was delivered to him today and it along with his back up will be serviced by the VA as needed."

I would be remiss if I did not mention them by name:
David, Marcus and Souleyman from the Lowe's Home Improvement Center on Forest Avenue in Mariners Harbor.

Today’s Ray the Ray – Heroes of the Day