Paralyzed in Accident Going to Be a Sailer Again
Some things Kenton Stacy will never get back, not after an IED in Syria left the Navy bomb technician paralyzed from the chest down and blind in the left eye.
So when he and his wife, Lindsey, were given the keys to a brand new house in Poway Friday morning — a custom-built, mortgage-free, specially adapted home from a charitable foundation — his thoughts turned immediately to what he'll be able to do for the first time since he was injured in November 2017.
Put their four children to bed.
The new 3,500 square-foot home has extra-wide hallways and doorways to accommodate the wheelchair he operates with his mouth. Unlike the family's previous residence in Liberty Station, where the kids' bedrooms were on the second floor, this one has them on ground level.
"Now I'm going to be able to go in and tell them goodnight," Kenton whispered as the family began exploring the home Friday morning. The bomb blast also took out part of his trachea, which makes talking difficult.
This is the 71st house built for severely injured service members in the U.S. by the Gary Sinise Foundation, which was started in 2011 by its namesake actor. Seven of the houses are in San Diego County or Temecula, a reflection of this region's deep ties to the military.
Inside the Stacys' front door, in a framed photo collage of Kenton's service career, is a quote from Sinise that sums up his foundation's mission: "The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten."
Physical therapist John Colaneri at VA Medical Center in La Jolla works on the hand, arm and shoulder motions of Kenton Stacy in 2019.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda/San Diego Union-Tribune)
Kenton, 37, grew up in Greenville, Ohio, a small farming community, where he and Lindsey were high-school sweethearts. They married in 2004 and he joined the Navy a year later as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician. He was on his fourth combat deployment in nine years, 50-plus missions defusing bombs hidden in roads and elsewhere, when he was injured.
His team was in Raqqa, Syria, training local soldiers how to clear IEDs. The bombs had been left behind by Islamic State fighters fleeing the U.S.-led coalition that had reclaimed the city a few months earlier.
The team went into a hospital and defused a half-dozen devices in the courtyard, basement and first floor. They cleared a stairwell and two rooms on the second floor. In the third room, a bomb exploded.
Stacy spent months in the hospital, first in Baghdad, then San Antonio, then San Diego. He's had dozens of surgeries and requires round-the-clock assistance. Last year, he was medically retired from the Navy as a senior chief petty officer.
Elizabeth Fields, chief operating officer for the Gary Sinise Foundation, said Stacy is among the most grievously injured vets her group has helped. The new house reflects that.
On the ceiling of the master bedroom, there's a track for a Hoyer lift, a device that transfers Stacy back and forth to the bathroom and its huge shower.
There is a room off the bedroom for regular sessions with physical therapists; it has its own entry so the caregivers can come and go as needed.
Upstairs is a bedroom suite for relatives who come out from Ohio to help care for the kids: Logan, 13; Mason, 9; Annabelle, 7; and Sadie, 5. Logan has cerebral palsy, and there's a room for his care, too.
Kenton Stacy gets a hero's welcome upon his arrival for the dedication ceremonies for the new specially built home from the Gary Sinise Foundation.
(Don Boomer/Don Boomer)
"These are forever homes for these families," said Scott Schaeperkoetter, director of operations for the foundation's housing program, R.I.S.E. "We build them specifically to their needs." Family members helped pick the wall colors, furniture and other features.
And the location. Lindsey Stacy said they wanted to be in Poway because of the quality of the school district. Land in Poway can be expensive, but they found a lot in Green Valley owned by a World War II vet willing to help the foundation out, Schaeperkoetter said.
Dozens of local contractors donated or reduced the cost of their labor and materials to build the home.
"This is a place for you to create new memories," Matthew Amos, of MLA General Contractor in Fallbrook, told the family during a brief ceremony outside the house Friday morning. His firm oversaw the project. "This is a place for you, Kenton, to know that your family is protected."
The ceremony included a surprise announcement for the family: The Sinise Foundation, with another charitable organization, No Greater Sacrifice, is funding college scholarships for the Stacy children.
"I don't know if you quite know what that means," Schaeperkoetter told the kids, "but you will."
Lindsey Stacy knew. After the ceremony, she sat on a couch in her family's new living room with a dazed look on her face and used one word to describe what they've been through: the bomb, the house, the changed lives.
"Unreal," she said.
Source: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/veterans/story/2021-05-21/paralyzed-sailor-sinise-home
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