Homes For Our Troops Sets Up Injured Vet In Cory Lake Isles

By Matt Wiley

Nearly three years after the blast that left him paralyzed from the waist down while serving our country overseas, a Tampa U.S. Army veteran and his wife have moved into a new home in Cory Lake Isles that was built specifically for them by Homes For Our Troops.

On February 27, 2011, Army Staff Sgt. Alex Dillman (originally from Town N’Country) was on patrol during his second deployment to Ghazni, Afghanistan, when the vehicle he and his platoon were traveling in struck an IED (improvised explosive device). Dillman’s spine was fractured in three places, causing him to lose most of the use of his legs, in addition to multiple other injuries.

However, thanks to the nonprofit organization Homes For Our Troops, Dillman — a Purple Heart recipient — and his wife Holly, both 28, now have a home that caters to Alex’s special needs, right here in New Tampa’s Cory Lake Isles community, with multiple features that allow him to get around the house with ease and still be able to perform daily tasks that would be much more difficult in a normal home. The couple received the keys in a ceremony on December 5 of last year.

Alex explains that during the two years he was recovering in both the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, and James A. Haley Veterans (VA) Hospital, located south of Fletcher Ave. on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. Holly heard about Homes For Our Troops while staying at the Fisher House, the residence where the families of the injured vets being treated at Tampa’s VA can stay for free.

“Holly was in the kitchen (at the Fisher House) and one of the spouses approached her about (Homes For Our Troops),” Alex explains. “We still weren’t sure what we were going to do when I got our of the hospital. So, one night she looked into it, and I met the criteria.”

Homes For Our Troops offers a “New Home Program” to veterans who are retired or are in the process of medical retirement from military service and have been injured in combat sometime since September 11. The organization raises money, collects materials and arranges labor to build homes. In this case, the organization worked with Aziz Construction and several accessibility equipment providers, including Mowen, Harmar and 101 Mobility. Alex says that the level of his injuries also was a factor.

Holly says that the application process was very thorough and took several weeks.

“I think maybe a month later, in November 2012, they called us,” Alex says. “They invited us up to Boston for a conference about building a home.”

Holly says that getting invited to a conference is a pretty good indication that a home is going to be built for you. The organization even provides a financial planner to help set families up for success with items they must pay for once they accept the keys to the home, including paying home insurance and property taxes. Since Alex was still receiving treatment, Holly attended and was able to pick out a floor plan. She also requested a lot in Cory Lake Isles after doing a web search, but didn’t hear anything back. A few weeks later, the couple received an email with a few location options, and Cory Lake Isles was one of them.

Ground was broken on the home in January 2013. It was completed by December. Many of the materials used in building the home were donated. Companies such as Whirlpool and Koehler donated much of the home’s kitchen and bathroom appliances. Artist Lynn Hays told the couple to pick out any prints they wanted. 101 Mobility even donated an outdoor wheelchair elevator to help Alex get off the sidewalk behind the home, where the couple is working on building a pool.

At first glance, the home looks almost no different from any other typical Florida residence, with a great room design and three bedrooms. However, the difference is in the details. Kitchen cabinets open to reveal shelves that Alex can pull down, without having to worry about knocking anything over. The stovetop is built lower (as are the countertops) and features burner controls at the front of the range. All of the hallways are a little wider for easier wheelchair access and several doors, including the front and garage, have push-button-control access.

In the master bathroom, the shower can completely be controlled from a touch panel and the TV is mounted on the wall with a rotating mount. The closet even doubles as a concrete safe room, in case of an emergency situation, such as a hurricane.

Out front, a flag pole sits adjacent to a sidewalk. At it’s base, a plaque has been set into the stone to honor and remember Sgt. Kristopher James Gould, who lost his life in the same blast that injured Alex.

Although the couple finally is moved in, they say that it still doesn’t seem real.

“We still haven’t come to terms with the fact that we’re actually in this home,” Alex says. “While I was in the hospital, we got the blueprints and would look at them every day. When the recovery got tough, we would look at them and just think about how good it would be to move in.”

Holly adds that the first dinner they enjoyed together in their new home, they both just looked around the room in disbelief.

For more information about Homes For Our Troops, a 501(c)(3) organization, please visit HFOTUSA.com.