When things started to pile up for a Jenison family, neighbors —who they hardly knew— found ways to fill in the gaps.
"At first it just started out as mowing my lawn one day, and then it was a schedule," said Laura Huizenga. "I didn't realize how many people had become part of it."
Laura Huizenga and her husband Tom contracted COVID-19 in early April.
Laura Huizenga, who was already vaccinated, recovered shortly after, but Tom Huizenga wound up in the hospital.
The 47-year-old had planned to get the vaccine the following week.
As soon as visitor restrictions allowed, Laura Huizenga went to Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital each day to see her husband. At one point, she tried to balance her shifts as a pediatric nurse at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital with visiting her husband, who was on a ventilator soon after being admitted.
"But, I went there so that I could work his muscles, massage him and just let him know that I was there," she said.
The stress of his illness would keep her up at night.
"I'd sleep in really late and I'd go there in the afternoon," Laura Huizenga said. "Then I'd come home and kind of help the kids with their homework, but just be exhausted from emotional turmoil."
When Laura Huizenga mentioned what was going on to a neighbor, it led to a chain reaction.
Neighbors have since taken turns mowing her lawn, bringing over meals, collecting donations and hugging her when nothing else would suffice. One neighbor stopped the city from turning off the Huizenga's water by paying her bill on the spot.
"You don't think about what it's going to cost? Or what, if any of that matters, you just know that there's a family going through something," said neighbor Tara Dare.
On May 11, Tom Huizenga passed away at the hospital. His family was able to be with him in his final moments.
His daughter Emma Huizenga would go on to graduate from high school a few weeks later. Neighbors decided to put out fresh mulch and freshen up the front yard ahead of her graduation party this weekend.
"People don't ask for help," Dare said. "Sometimes you have to look for where you can help."
"It was like a no brainer. Everybody just said 'What can we do?'" said neighbor Marilyn Fellows. "And everybody jumped in."
Laura Huizenga says she met some neighbors for the first time while they were putting fresh mulch in her yard. She gets tears in her eyes when she thinks about the way their support has made her feel.
"Gives me a lot of hope that there are good people out there, they're not just out for themselves and all together we can get through this," she said.
"I don't know if they realize that they had such an impact on me, but they did, and my kids, too," she said. "It's great for my teenage and adult children to see that in their young lives. I think it's inspiring to them, as well."
In addition to her neighbors, co-workers gave up their vacation days to allow Laura Huizenga to stay with her family a little longer. She'll return to work at the hospital next week.
"It is hard for me to take all the help, but at the same time— I'm just really grateful for it," she said.
Laura Huizenga knows her husband would be amazed by it, as well. She says Tom Huizenga was the kind of person who would do a friends house project before his own.
He's remembered for his hugs and "big laugh", and for his love for his family, friends, hunting and anything outdoors.
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