PICTON — Darlene Grooms says her husband Keith is crazy to want to return to their dairy barn, only a month after losing his left leg to harvester just above the knee. "He’s trying to keep himself busy," says Darlene. "But he’s used to working 24/7."

Keith keeps busy with his physiotherapy routine twice a day, playing cards and watching television.

The small community and family members in South Fredericksburg, near Picton, have rallied around Darlene and her three children, Audrey 16, Dylan 14 and Melissa, 9, lending a hand by helping with the corn and hay fields and milking the cows. Her neighbour, Robin Lynn MacNeil, even organized a fundraiser to help the family pay upcoming bills on Oct. 19, which raised almost $4,000.

Keith, who has been back at home recuperating since Sept. 29, is in a lot of pain, says Darlene. But they are starting to ease him off the medication, and he hopes to have a prosthesis in the next seven to eight months.

Keith lost his leg on Sept. 17 when he tried to unplug the harvester in one of the cornfields of his 400-acre farm. While kicking the harvester to unclog the machine, his left boot got caught. "Machines, they don’t care," said Darlene. "It just pulled him in."

As he was being pulled into the machine, Darlene says Keith’s right leg bent backwards. When Keith’s father found him, "he kept saying: ‘I’m a dead man, I’m a dead man,’" says Darlene.

"Keith was able to tell his father to turn off the machine, and tie off his leg and then call 911. He was blue, he lost so much blood."

Darlene, a personal support worker with the Red Cross, is on stress leave after the accident.

Darlene says her husband has accepted the fact he lost his leg, stating that when an accident happens, "You have to keep your wits, take one day at a time, and you can’t get depressed.".

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