Jeremy Haynes’ life changed forever in 2014.
Serving in Afghanistan as an aide to a general at the time, then-Captain Haynes was at a training facility when an Afghan military policeman opened fire. The general Haynes was serving alongside, Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, was killed in the attack, and Haynes was shot four times .
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Grievously wounded, Haynes was evacuated to Germany, and then to Walter Reed Medical Center, where he woke up to find his pregnant wife, Chelsea.
Six years later, Haynes’s life changed again when the Gary Sinise Foundation built a new home specially tailored to the needs of him and his young family.
Adapting to his new life following his injuries — and with his growing family — was proving a huge challenge for Haynes. Fragments of the bullets from the attack remain lodged in his spinal cord and 80% of the nerves to his lower extremities were severed. Although he has fought hard to regain a measure of movement and has taken steps with the help of braces and canes, Haynes will need a wheelchair to get around for the rest of his life.
Around the house, that left him demoralized as he was unable to help his wife with many of the chores that come with a family.
Worse still, the home they were in did not allow Haynes much freedom.
The kids “saw dad in two places: in the bed or the living room of our previous home,” Haynes told the Gary Sinise Foundation . The doorways in the home were simply too narrow to allow access for Haynes’s wheelchair to go anywhere else. Getting in and out of the tub required help from Chelsea, who is a drill sergeant in the Army Reserve. It all added up to Haynes feeling like a burden to his family.
“Mentally and spiritually, I felt demoralized and hopeless. My soul was just tattered,” he said, adding that he could feel his requests for help from his wife “slowly breaking her body.”
In 2017, when the Gary Sinise Foundation approached the Haynes family about designing them a home, they only had a few items on their wishlist.
They wanted a wheelchair-accessible bathroom, easier access to all the rooms in the house, and better entry and exits to and from the house. The Gary Sinise Foundation has a program just for that: RISE, which stands for Restoring Independence Supporting Empowerment.
The new home has those wider doorways, of course, but there’s so much more. The designers working with Haynes and the Gary Sinise Foundation went to so much detail that the kitchen table is tailored specifically to Hayne’s torso so that it’s never too high or too low for him.
There’s plenty of tech to help Haynes and his family around the house as well.
Rather than having to roll around the house to turn off lights, Haynes can simply do so from an iPad, for example. The iPad controls things like the thermostat, security features, motorized shades, and an audio system as well.
It was all a bit much for Haynes, at least at first. “My brain was equipped to like an ‘84 Chevy,” he said. “Walking into our home, it’s like a Ferrari.”
But while the changes might be a lot to sort out, they’re also a huge deal for Haynes and his family.
“I was stumbling over my words because I couldn’t capture just the overwhelming joy that I felt,” Haynes said at a dedication ceremony, according to WJLA. “Finally there’s a home where we can actually grow together.”
“There’s a big difference between a 24-inch door and a 36 indoor,” he added. “That difference is the ability to tuck your kids in at night, being able to read them a bedtime story.”
“Now, I get the opportunity, a second chance at life to just enjoy the quality of life be a husband be a father.”
h/t: Gary Sinise Foundation , WJLA
