Don’t Worry, Be Happy

“He has a refreshing naiveté; an artistic temperament,” said Nate Darrow, owner of Saratoga Apple and Joseph’s employer. “He always seems to take a negative and turn it into a positive—for example he once was in a car accident and by the next day he had created a song about it thanking the Lord for the men who had made the guardrails.” 

The guardrails had kept his car from going off the road and being a much worse accident.

Life has not been easy for Joseph, but somehow he has a refreshing way of living it. 

Born in rural Jamaica, his father died when he was young and his mother told him he would have to go to work to help support the family. When most children were playing and having fun, he was busy working on the family farm, growing vegetables, tending to goats and sheep and going to the local farmer’s market to sell the wares. 

“His work ethic is beyond reproach,” added Darrow. “He is a great guy and a great family man—he has sacrificed continually to take care of his family and now he has this bigger challenge and the way he is meeting with such a positive attitude is so powerful—he is a very simpatico guy.” 

Joseph, who comes to the United States in the spring to work during the growing season and who has worked for the Darrow family for the last 17 years, was recently diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. 

“The doctors in Jamaica had said his cancer was cured because they did not see anything,” said friend, Bill Reynolds, who is organizing a fundraiser to help with Joseph’s medical bills. 

Joseph, who, in addition to working in the orchards works all the local farmer’s markets for the Darrows from Troy to Queensbury, said he had thought he had hurt his back after one particular big market run. 

“I had been lifting these heavy boxes and my back started to hurt,” said Joseph, who has been the sole breadwinner for his extended family since he was 14. “And I tried to rub alcohol on it and rub it, but it wasn’t getting better.”

After trying to wait for it to get better, even visiting a chiropractor, Joseph’s son, who also works for the Darrow family, insisted he go to the hospital and when he did, he got the grim diagnosis of prostate cancer. 

In the country through a Jamaican work program—H2B—Joseph has no medical insurance and does not qualify for any federal or state medical programs. 

“We want to think of this fundraiser as more or a marathon and not a sprint because he is still going to have medical needs,” continued Darrow. 

The meeting between Darrow and Joseph happened almost 20 years ago when Darrow first purchased what was Bullard Orchards. 

Through Jamaica’s H2B program, Joseph had been working for several years for a Massachusetts apple orchard. The owner decided to sell the farm so he could retire. 

“He asked me if I wanted to buy it, but I didn’t have any way, so he advertised the machines,” said Joseph. 

Darrow saw that advertisement and drove to the farm to see the special peeler, corer and slicer. 

“He was in the mountains of Massachusetts and the first time I met him, he was the foreman of the job,” continued Darrow, noting that when he was getting ready to leave, he shook Joseph’s hand and he quietly slipped him a piece of paper. “He had written his name and telephone number on it.” 

Darrow brought the machine and Joseph returned to Jamaica, like he does every fall and continued to run the farm he had managed to buy and pay cash for. 

Then one day in the spring while harvesting three acres of potatoes, his wife, Gloria, came to him and asked him who was Nate Darrow. 

Joseph accepted Darrow’s offer of working for Saratoga Apple and flew to the United States, arriving in the tiny village of Schuylerville. 

“I like this area and the people,” said Joseph, who is deeply religious. “They are all so kind and nice people; and disciplined—I like disciplined people.” 

And he kept coming back, season after season. 

“He sacrificed a lot to give him family a better life,” continued Darrow. “He built a house, a really nice house for his wife and children all with what he earned here [in the United States]. And he has his own farm, about five or six acres about a mile from his house that he bought and paid cash for—in the third world there isn’t a lot of credit.” 

Continuing, Darrow said that when Joseph found out he was battling cancer; his first thoughts weren’t of himself, but his family. 

“He was most concerned with finishing paying for her college education,” Darrow said. “And she isn’t even his biological child—she’s his niece and he took her in when her mother couldn’t take care of her.” 

Joseph and Gloria have five children. 

Darrow said that Joseph’s Visa will allow him to stay in the United States until December 11, but because so many people are endeared to him, they are trying to see if he can stay longer in order to continue with treatment because they fear the medical care in Jamaica is not up to the same standards as America.

“They did, after all, say he was not sick,” said Darrow. “If we can get him a resident alien status, commonly referred to as a green card, he can stay for treatment, but he is going to need money for that treatment.”

The fundraiser will be at Saratoga Apple on Saturday, November 2 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. There will be live music, free wagon rides, mural painting for children, refreshments and a silent auction. 

“He has such a wonderful, positive attitude,” said Darrow.  “I have always considered him a blessing to this farm.  I would trust him, totally, with my life.” 

To donate to the Funds for Joseph fundraiser, go to their website, fundforjoseph.com; or to donate items for their silent auction or for more information on how to help, call (518) 232-9968.