George McCarthy had recently undergone surgery and had just had a lung tumor removed when he put his delivery cap back on.
He is 80 years old, lives in Roseville, Michigan, and, according to his granddaughter, returned to delivering pizzas less than a week after leaving the operating room. It wasn’t by choice. His Social Security isn’t enough to cover the medical bills, and he sums it up bluntly on camera for WXYZ-TV Detroit: “I have no choice. I have to do this to survive”. He says his bills have pushed him to the limit, with no room to breathe.
And breathing is already a daily challenge for him: he suffered a heart attack in 2020 and lives with shortness of breath every day. Even so, he is on his feet for every shift at Jet’s Pizza. His manager, Anthony Boschian, says “the whole store loves him”, and that closeness has turned into action: the restaurant is organizing a fundraiser to help him.
The family hopes the money will achieve what his wages never could: that George, after traveling such a long road, will finally have the chance to rest.