A new home built for a wounded veteran will help make living with challenging injuries easier. Chief Warrant Officer Jeffrey Pcola was on a mission finding chemical and nuclear weapons in Iraq when his convoy was attacked. He suffered injuries to his back and spine which are held together with rods and screws and he has a new hip and plates in his neck. After thirteen surgeries he says just moving around the house or getting in the tub is difficult.
This new house makes things a lot easier.
It has counter tops that are lower to the ground and in the kitchen, the microwave, oven and shelving can be accessed by someone in a wheelchair. In the bathroom the bathtub has a ledge that helps Pcola get in easily and there is a walk in shower and wide doorways throughout the house.
“You can just see the distance between the two. It’s a single level home not up and down and I can get anywhere I want on a segway here. I can get my mail, I can go down to the dock and get on the boat. I can get around everywhere in my own home,” he said.
Homes for our troops builds homes for veterans who have been severely injured after 9-11. Chief Warrant Officer Pcola could choose anywhere in the country to have his house built and he chose Lake Keowee for it’s warm weather and it’s close proximity to a veteran hospital in Asheville. Pcola is moving here from Pennsylvania and his whole family came down to help him get settled and thank Homes For Our Troops for their incredible donation. His son says he watched his father struggle to live day to day at home and says this means so much to the whole family. “He’s got that tough exterior but he was about in tears when he first saw the place. And for something to get him chocked up like that really means something,” said his son Cody Pcola.
The homes that Homes For Our Troops build are close to $400,000. Homes For Our Troops also got lot’s of help from non-profit groups and contractors in the upstate.
Visit www.homesforourtroops.org to donate to this program.