The thumping upstairs was an 85-year-old who needed her

Heidi Widmer moved from Buffalo to Los Angeles after a divorce, and her first night in her new apartment was interrupted by loud thumping from the unit above. She joked that it sounded like someone was bowling upstairs. The noise turned out to be Carole, an 85-year-old woman with Parkinson's disease, living alone and trying to get through her day. They met a few weeks later, when Carole dropped her recycling outside Widmer's door and it spilled everywhere because her hands were shaking. Widmer stepped in to help, then kept helping. She started taking Carole's trash out twice a week, cooking meals, and untangling the paperwork Carole needed. "I asked her two days ago, 'My girl, what would have happened if I didn't find you?'" Widmer said. "She just looked me straight in the eye and said, 'I would've struggled until somebody did.'" A fundraiser for Carole has since raised more than $60,000. Carole calls Widmer her granddaughter.