David Barrett is a man of few words, and not a person to ask others for financial help, so his brother and a friend have volunteered to help him solve his medical crisis.

Barrett, 55, has been a concrete finisher for about 40 years. He began to experience severe stomach pain in September.

He didn’t have any insurance and had to go to the emergency room at Muskogee Regional Medical Center. His colon was ruptured and poisoning his body.

“They went in and repaired the colon and put the (colostomy) bag on me,” he said. “It was my understanding that within eight weeks they would put it back together.”

But then came even worse news. Because Barrett wasn’t able to pay the more than $24,000 in medical bills for the emergency surgery, he was told the hospital would not re-admit him to re-connect his colon and remove the colostomy bag.

“The doctor told me if I could come up with the money for the hospital, she would put me back together without no problem with no money,” he said.

That’s when his older brother stepped in. Jim Barrett, 59, decided to set up a fund that anyone could donate to that would help his younger brother get back to work.

“He’s a good-hearted guy who would give you the shirt off his back,” Jim Barrett said about his brother. “And he’s a hard worker.”

Carl Adams of Webbers Falls is a longtime friend of Jim Barrett who decided to pitch in and help.

“Every penny goes straight to the hospital, so he can go back to work and support his family,” Adams said. “He never asked us to do this. It’s a bad time of year to have these kinds of problems.”

David Barrett said in his own plain-spoken way that he appreciates what family and friends are doing to help him return to a normal life.

“I didn’t know what to think when I heard what they were doing,” he said. “I thought it was awful nice of them. It’s the first time something like that ever happened to me.”

Barrett has similar feelings for anyone in the public who decides to join the effort to get him back on track.

“That would be another thing that would be well appreciated; I’d have to try to find a way to thank them somehow,” he said. “I enjoy working. I’ve been about trying to pull my hair out the last couple of weeks. I’d rather be working than sitting around the house.”