PENNLIVE – Joe Bonsall’s health battles have been well documented early in 2024 because they have caused the legendary performer to have to step away from touring with The Oak Ridge Boys.
Bonsall, 75, has reportedly been battling a neuromuscular disorder which finally made it impossible for him to carry on with his bandmates on the road.
But his heart is very clearly still there, and it’s not hard to understand why.
Take, for instance, the heartwarming memory he shared on X, formerly Twitter, earlier this week about bandmate, Duane Allen, coming to his rescue last year.
“One year ago today I was at a hotel in Galveston trying to make it down an incline to get to the tour bus,” Bonsall wrote on Jan. 21. “I was on a cane at the time but my legs froze on the hill and I couldn’t move … Duane Allen came flying out of the bus to help me … one just does not forget things like that! My heart is with him and the BOYS today!!”
Bonsall also shared a Bible verse, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil,” it reads. “For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up.”
Allen responded, “You would do the same for me, my brother!!!”
Bonsall responded, “Yes I would ACE.”
That wasn’t the end of it, though. Fans obviously responded in a positive way to the emotional post, and Allen noticed.
“When I saw how many of you ‘liked’ (hundreds) my post to Joe, big old tears filled my eyes,” Allen wrote. “You people ‘get’ what we are all about. It’s the little things we do for each other. We don’t blow horns or send up flares … ”
