DESTIN — For the past 27 years, Peggy and George Blackburn have spent Thanksgiving together with their family.
This year, the 65-year-old woman wasn’t sure if her husband, who has severe Parkinson’s disease, would be able to make it until she heard about the South Walton Fire District’s “Home for the Holidays” campaign.
“It means a great deal to me,” Peggy said. “The fact of being able to have him out for the holidays, even just for a little while with the family, means a lot to everyone.”
This is the fourth year the Fire District has offered free rides to residents who otherwise would not be able to come home. Transportation will also be provided Christmas Eve and Christmas.
George, an Army veteran, was place in East Grand Nursing Home in Destin in March so physicians could better care for his intensifying symptoms. Since then, he has gotten progressively worse.
“We took him out for the Fourth of July. That was a struggle, and he wasn’t as bad as he is now,” Peggy said of her 74-year-old husband. “He is in a wheelchair and requires a lift to get out of bed.
“I don’t think he could have come to my son’s house in Destin without the help.”
Now, the family will sit around the table and load their plates with turkey, ham, trimmings and more sides than Peggy can name.
“It really would have been almost impossible to get him in or out; he’s more or less incapable,” Peggy said. “The fact that the Fire Department will take him in the ambulance and help get him here and back makes it possible to have him. I can’t tell you what that means.”