Injured Marine to get special home
Badly injured in Afghanistan nearly three years ago, Tomy Parker of Ronan is about to get a home to accommodate his war wounds.
“You don’t think about how difficult it can be to take a shower or make a meal until you can’t get in the shower or reach the stove on your own,” said Parker, who was severely injured while serving in the Marine Corps in Sangin, Afghanistan.
While on a foot patrol in the late afternoon of Dec. 11, 2010, Parker stepped on an improvised explosive device, resulting in a left leg amputation at the hip, a right leg amputation directly above the knee plus the loss of all of the fingers except his thumb on his left hand.
After extensive rehabilitation, Parker today uses a wheelchair or prosthetics to get around — and getting around his own home is a challenge.
“You can’t fit through the doors in a wheelchair, getting into the shower is really hard, things you don’t normally notice until you’re trying to figure out how to do them in a wheelchair,” Parker said.
But thanks to Homes For Our Troops, Parker will soon have a specially adapted home of his own.
The national program is a nonprofit dedicated to providing customized homes for veterans severely injured in Iraq or Afghanistan.
“We use grants and donations to build these homes,” said Ashley Twigg, community outreach coordinator with the program. “As of October 15 we’ve built 143 homes and have another 34 in progress, and we’re booked through 2014. We build about 40 homes each year.”
Parker’s new home will include 150 special adaptations including lowered appliances, roll-in showers and grip bars. Groundbreaking is scheduled Nov. 23 and Twigg expects construction to take about six months, depending on the weather. This is only the second home in Montana the group has built.
“It means a lot to me,” Parker said. “It will take a lot of stress out of my life and my family. Having a house that’s not adapted makes everything harder. Laundry and cooking, getting dressed, showering; it’s almost impossible without help sometimes. And because of my injuries it’s hard for me to get a job, so being able to afford a home is difficult.”
The homes built by Homes For Our Troops are provided at no cost to the veterans.
“My family is very, very excited to move into the new home,” Parker said.
“The ease of movement will be great, and there will be less cleaning, too,” he joked. “In the winter, wheelchairs pick up mud and it’s hard on the carpet.”
Homes For Our Troops relies on grant funding and donations to build those homes, and although skilled labor is used for the majority of construction, Twigg said there are opportunities for community members to get involved.
“We’re always looking for donations or people interested in doing fundraisers, either for the entire organization or a specific project,” she said. “Or you can visit our web page and sign up to receive updates on a specific project and come out for our volunteer day and work on the project yourself.”
For anyone interested in working on Parker’s home or for more information on Homes For Our Troops, go online to www.hfotusa.org.
“I’m very lucky to be one of the people who benefits from this program,” Parker said. “I urge everyone to check it out and help out where you can.”
Reporter Melissa Walther may be reached at 758-4474 or by email at mwalther@dailyinterlake.com.