If you’ve ever tried to get a teenager up for school, you’ll appreciate this story:  There’s a woman in Parsippany, New Jersey who’s been on dialysis for a while.  And if she doesn’t go in for regular treatments, she could die.

One of her neighbors has been shoveling her driveway all winter to make sure she can get her car out.  But he’s a paramedic and had to work when the last big snowstorm hit.  So his little brother stepped up to help instead.

His name is Patrick Lanigan, and he’s a high school senior.  He offered to wake up before school and shovel the driveway.  But he knew it would take a while.  So he was smart about it, and asked his friends for help.

Four of them ended up sleeping over at his house that night.  Then they all got up at 4:30 in the morning, and knocked it out in about 30 minutes.

They were hoping school might get cancelled that day, so they could go back to bed.  But no luck.  Most of them didn’t sleep much, but they were all happy to help.

Patrick’s dad was so proud of them, he posted some photos on Twitter, and now they’re going viral.

(CNN)