New home built for paralyzed Marine

[unhappycamper]

Heather Lovell jokes with her fiance, former Marine Cpl. Joshua Hoffman, in their apartment in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Jan. 28. The couple is moving to a house built to accommodate Hoffman's physical disabilities, which occurred after he took a bullet to the neck in Iraq.


New home built for paralyzed Marine
The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Feb 1, 2009 8:56:50 EST

MIDDLEVILLE, Mich. — Former Marine Cpl. Joshua Hoffman was paralyzed from the chest down two years ago by a sniper’s bullet in Iraq. He uses a wheelchair and has been in and out of hospitals with infections.

But life will get a little easier for the 26-year-old on Saturday, when he moves into a specially equipped house in western Michigan built and donated by hundreds of volunteers.

“Josh, he is ecstatic. It’s going to be such a relief to get out of our apartment with room to breathe, so he can feel more independent,” his fiancée, Heather Lovell, 22, told the Grand Rapids Press.

The one-story home near Middleville is equipped with a motorized ceiling track lift system to help Hoffman get in and out of bed and the shower, an oxygen-distribution system to help treat his frequent lung infections and a backup generator in case of blackouts.

Chet Teater, 62, of Caledonia is one of about 700 people who pitched in to help build the house.


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/01/ap_marine_disabled_home_013009/%2e