LOCAL

Handicapped veteran receives a home of his own

Merriell Moyer
Lebanon Daily News

 

Disabled veteran Tim Donley, and his wife Kelly, now have a suitable place to call home. With over 100 guests in attendance, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation presented Cpl. Tim Donley with the keys to his “Smart Home” near Bethel, PA. Thursday, June 8, 2017. Donley lost both his legs and had severe damage to one arm when an IED exploded near him February 9, 2012 while on patrol in Afghanistan. Donley raises a flag over his new home before he is handed the keys to his new home.

Since 2012 Retired Marine Corporal Tim Donley has been navigating life as a double amputee. On Thursday he and his bride were gifted a brand new, handicapped-accessible smart home that will remove many of the everyday roadblocks Donley has encountered since he was hurt in Afghanistan.

“It’s ours. I’ve never had a home of my own,” Tim Donley said after the ceremony presenting the home. “We’ve never had anywhere that was ours.”

The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation changed that by building a accessible smart home in Bethel Township, Berks County, for the Donleys.

“The apartment we’ve been living in has been pretty rough. It is a small place, so a lot of times I’ll hop around instead of worrying about being in my wheelchair because there just isn’t enough room.” Donley said. “You don’t find many places that are handicapped accessible to the extent that we tend to need it.”

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The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation mission is to honor the sacrifice of firefighter Stephen Siller, who laid down his life to save others on September 11, 2001. It has a program to build “smart homes” for service members who have been catastrophically injured, according to their website.

Disabled veteran Tim Donley, and his wife Kelly, now have a suitable place to call home. With over 100 guests in attendance, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation presented Cpl. Tim Donley with the keys to his “Smart Home” near Bethel, PA. Thursday, June 8, 2017. Donley lost both his legs and had severe damage to one arm when an IED exploded near him February 9, 2012 while on patrol in Afghanistan. Donley and his wife Kelly cross the threshold into their new home for the very first time Thursday following a ceremony and flag raising.

The foundation has built more than 50 such homes for disabled veterans all over the country.

Besides having automated appliances controlled by an iPad, the home features a number of amenities meant to give Donley more independence than a normal house would offer. Pull-down cabinets and drawers for storage and a roll-in shower are just a few of the many handicapped-convenient items the “smart home” has to offer.

Besides looking forward to the extra space the home will offer him compared to the apartment where they lived, Donley stated, “It is such an incredible place and it’s ours,” when asked what his favorite part of the home was.

The “smart home” will make it easier for the Donleys to host Kelly’s brother, Mark Fidler – who also lost his legs while in service with the U.S. military – and other disabled veterans they are friends with.

“We haven’t been able to hang out with Mark or other injured guys as much because we didn’t have enough space for multiple wheelchairs – it’s tough,” Tim Donley said.

Disabled veteran Tim Donley, and his wife Kelly, now have a suitable place to call home. With over 100 guests in attendance, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation presented Cpl. Tim Donley with the keys to his “Smart Home” near Bethel, PA. Thursday, June 8, 2017. Donley lost both his legs and had severe damage to one arm when an IED exploded near him February 9, 2012 while on patrol in Afghanistan.

The Donleys chose to live in Bethel since it is close to Kelly’s parents, who live in Lebanon County. Her parents have property near the “smart home,” and they own horses, two of which belong to Kelly. The couple loves the outdoors and Tim wants to get a horse that has been specially trained to accommodate riders without legs.

Tim Donley met Kelly while he was in the hospital recovering from the injuries he sustained in the 2012 explosion.

“We met at Walter Reed (National Military Medical Center). Kelly’s older brother, Mark, was injured about four months before I was, and he and I became friends at the hospital,” Donley explained. “Kelly and I met about a year later, and the rest is history.”

Members of the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation and representatives from the organizations and businesses that helped finance and build the home held a ceremony at the “smart home” to officially welcome the Donley’s into their new house.

Because Tim Donley loves music, and because he once performed Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at Madison Square Garden in front of a sold-out crowd in 2013, the foundation also gave him a picture of Cohen, signed by the singer-songwriter before his death Nov. 2016.

Disabled veteran Tim Donley, and his wife Kelly, now have a suitable place to call home. With over 100 guests in attendance, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation presented Cpl. Tim Donley with the keys to his “Smart Home” near Bethel, PA. Thursday, June 8, 2017. Donley lost both his legs and had severe damage to one arm when an IED exploded near him February 9, 2012 while on patrol in Afghanistan. Donley and his wife, Kelly, along with Frank Siller, CEO Tunnel to Towers Foundation, watch as a giant American flag is pulled back, revealing their new completely handicapped accessible home.

The home was financed and built through the collaboration of many organizations and businesses including The Semper Fi Fund and branches of Home Depot, Carpet One, Mohawk Flooring and MasterBrand cabinets from the Lebanon and Berks area.

Donley was deeply touched by the generosity of the foundation and the organizations they are partnered with.

“It is really a beautiful thing because knowing that in our time of need and during times where we’ve needed support there have been good people who really want to help us and want to do something good for us,” Donley said. “And to help all the injured guys coming back to give them a life you can live and not have to worry about a lot of little things that pile up and add all this stress. It is changing our lives.”