A helping hand

At 75-years-old, Roy Fryar had retired from his job as an engineer technician at Purolator in Fayetteville where he helped make oil and air filters for cars for 39 years. He was looking forward to his retirement and spending more quality time with his grandchildren and, maybe, play some golf.

But then he got sick.

“It’s been a battle for a year or so, not really knowing what was wrong with him. But then, about three months ago, we found out it was terminal cancer. Stage four,” his niece, Leslie Rogers, said.

Fryar’s 77 now, his last birthday spent within the walls of a hospital as he continues treatment for the Sarcoma cancer the doctors found in both his throat and his back.

“When it first started, he actually lost his voice. He couldn’t talk at all,” his wife, Brenda Fryar, said, her voice in a near whisper. She has been staying with her husband at Goldsboro Rehab while he gets the treatment.

According to Rogers, Brenda Fryar has not left her husband’s side since he was admitted.

“He got back to kind of like a whisper, and his voice is trying to get stronger,” Mrs. Fryar continued. “So, we’re hoping and praying that maybe the cancer (treatment) is working a little bit.”

Before the cancer, Mrs. Fryar said, her husband was “as healthy as a horse,” and, she noted, that it’s only been the past few years that he’s started to go downhill. In fact, she said he only stopped working at 75 because his health forced him to.

He had his hobbies outside of work, too.

Both Brenda Fryar and Rogers agreed that the 77-year-old loved to play golf, but he was active within his church, too.

“He sang with the ViewMasters Quartet for over 30 years,” Rogers said, noting that so many in the community and around area churches knew him because of that rich voice.

And it’s the community that Roy built through his church activities and beyond that is coming together to help him now.

“Like I said, he sang in the gospel group, so everybody knows him. And so many people just kind of (asked) ‘what can we do to help?’” Rogers explained.

A group of people came together to talk about how they could help the Fryar family, Rogers included. It was decided then that they could do a plate sale to raise money to help offset some of the expenses the family was incurring.

“Some people don’t like to donate unless they get something in return,” Rogers said. “So, we thought we would feed them and have a sale that way.”

The plate sale will help cover the costs that insurance can’t cover for Brenda and Roy since it’s been over 50 days since he was admitted to the hospital, and the bills are racking up.

“The fundraiser is going to be Friday, Sept. 6, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Colonial Heights Church in Clinton,” Rogers said.

The cost is $10 per plate and features BBQ, coleslaw, potatoes, rolls and dessert.

“It will be eat-in, or take-out and we will deliver for 10-plus plates,” Rogers noted.

She explained that Fryrar was in good spirits when he heard about the plate sale.

“(He) says that he wants to be there that day. And we hope he can,” she said.

This past weekend was already touchy, according to Rogers, but they are keeping their hopes up that he’ll be able to make it to the fund-raising.

Mrs. Fryar said the touchy days do come, but she tries to deal with them as they arise.

“I tell people it’s kind of like a roller coaster. You never know from one day to the next how he’s going to be. I mean, one day he seems really strong, and he goes to therapy. And the next day he’s just really low,” she explained. “You just never know from one day to the next if you’re gonna be up or down, but you just deal with what you got.”