Disabled veteran gifted custom-designed home in Canyon Lake

Disabled veteran gifted custom-designed home

Brian Boone lost the lower part of his leg while on deployment to Afghanistan as a bomb tech. He and his family's new custom-designed home, gifted by Homes For Our Troops, has over 40 special adaptations for Boone's disability.

CANYON LAKE, Texas - It was a walk-through Brian, Nicole and Griffon Boone will never forget.

"This is overwhelming," Brian said. "It's far beyond expectations, just grateful. Pure gratitude, and so thankful for this gift, it's a blessing."

The family's new custom-designed home in Canyon Lake has over 40 special adaptations for Brian's disability.

Brian lost the lower part of his leg while on deployment to Afghanistan as a bomb tech. The vehicle he was in hit a roadside bomb.

While Brian has recovered and gets around OK, the injury changed his family forever.

"I was upset, but I was thankful he was the one who called and told me that he was injured," Nicole Boone, Brian's wife, said. "He said ‘Babe, I want you to know I’m coming home, and we don't have to pay to have that tattoo on my leg removed anymore.' It was his way of breaking the news to me in a way he knew would help me and comfort me, and it showed me how much he loved me even while he was struggling."

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The house, gifted by Homes For Our Troops, is meant to help in that struggle. During the move-in presentation, Bill Ivey, the organization's executive director, played out their ongoing theme.

"We don't want you to think of what we do as charity work," Ivey said. "What we do is help the American people pay a debt we owe these men and women for the sacrifice they made in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Brian had intended to make the Army his career. While the explosion ended those plans, now he's on a new path working with other veterans and with children who are also amputees.

He tried to sum things up during the move-in presentation.

"Thank you, thank you guys," Brian said, getting emotional. "Thank you really doesn't express the gratitude in my heart. It's unbelievable."

The Canyon Lake home is one of more than 350 specially adapted houses nationwide Home For Our Troops has donated. The group has been doing this since 2004, all privately-funded through donations.

The Boone home is a continuing example of their motto: "Building Homes, Rebuilding Lives."

"We're so blessed that they adopted us into their family, and they love us, down to every person we've met," Nicole Boone said. "They have had our best interests at heart, they're a blessing to us, and we're grateful for what they do for every veteran family that they build homes for."

Learn more about Homes For Our Troops here.