Work and his brother-in-law Mark Rouco were laying sod in Work’s front yard on Saturday when he suddenly suffered a heart attack. Responding to his wife Melissa Work’s 911 call, the six men rushed Work to the hospital where he was taken for emergency surgery just as his heart was about to stop. On the way to the hospital, Work told the firefighters that he really needed to finish laying out the last four pellets of sod, which he was afraid might die in the July heat. After transporting Work to the hospital, the first responders went back to the home to help finish laying down the sod. “I can’t believe you guys came back, it’s amazing!” 
 
 Mark Rouco 
 
 Work revealed to them that he started bawling when he saw pictures of the completed lawn after his surgery. "These men didn’t do this for any attention, they didn’t know what family they were doing this for, but we feel that we should return that kindness and tell people. "While he was having his heart attack, literally in and out of consciousness, he kept begging me to figure out the sod and have it put down because he didn’t want it to go to waste and die," the wife wrote on Facebook. It’s OK. Jesus will figure this out babe.’" 
 
 They didn’t want to get hit with the HOA fines, and 30-year-old Melissa Work — who needs a bone marrow transplant — had scheduled the painful and expensive procedure for next month. “We knew it’s such a beautiful story, we knew people would love it, we knew they would love them so this is what we were hoping and we are a little shocked,” she said. [First] for me was my sod and then I also remembered they saved my life. They knew that the sod would soon die while Gene Work wouldn’t be able to do anything about it in the hospital.
– It was a hot, humid day in Pasco County, Fla., on Saturday, and Gene Work was trying to beat the clock to lay down sod in his yard so he wouldn't face a fine from his homeowners association. But the 40-year-old, who was working with his brother-in-law Mark Rouco, soon wasn't feeling well—and it turned out he was having a heart attack, per ABC News. His wife, Melissa Work, called 911, and about a half-dozen firefighters arrived to rush Gene Work to the hospital. But while he was drifting in and out of consciousness, his wife says he could only focus on one thing. "He kept begging me to figure out the sod and have it put down because he didn't want it to go to waste and die," she writes in a Facebook post. "It's ALL he kept asking about literally during a massive heart attack. LOL." He relayed his same fears to the first responders on his way to the hospital, and they were obviously listening. Per the Tampa Bay Times, Rouco, who'd stayed behind in the yard to try to finish the job, suddenly saw the emergency vehicles that had just been there returning. Rouco thought they were coming to check on him, but they were there for a different reason: to help him put the rest of the sod down. All together, they got the job done in an hour. At a ceremony Tuesday honoring the first responders, Gene Work told them he cried when he was shown a picture of the finished sod job after his emergency surgery. "On paper, we've been dealt a lot of difficulties," Melissa Work, who will be receiving a bone marrow transplant next month, tells the Times. "But we teach our kids to look for the positives, and that is what this was." An extra gesture of kindness: After seeing Melissa Work's Facebook post, the sod company refunded all of the family's money. (California firefighters saved a dog, mouth to snout.)