Bus moves: Keefer family returns to new home and paid-off mortgage ...

Brian Keefer couldn?t fight back tears as the ?Extreme Makeover: Home Edition? bus pulled away from blocking his new Newberry Township home and revealed the finished product.

One week ago, the Keefer family left their former 2,500-square-foot home on Dubbers Drive to the ?Extreme Makeover? crew and Musser Home Builders, Inc., as they vacationed in Colorado Springs while their home was transformed to fully accommodate Brian Keefer and his wheelchair.

Late Sunday afternoon, however, the Keefers returned home to nearly 1,000 spectators lined up along Dubbers Drive eagerly waiting to see their reactions to their finished home and boasting colorful signs and shouting chants such as, ?Bring Brian Home? and ?Move that Bus.?

Extreme Makeover Home Edition host Ty Pennington watches the Keffer family react when seeing their remodeled Newberry Township home for the first time Sunday. (John A. Pavoncello)
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Brian Keefer, 23, suffered a gymnastics injury three years ago that left him paralyzed from the chest down and bound to a wheelchair. The family?s former home restricted Brian to only a few rooms on the home?s first floor.

Over the past week, the makeover and construction crews along with more than 5,000 volunteers, built a 12-room home for the Keefer family that is completely accessible for the entire family, including Brian.

The Keefers? new home also includes 2,000-square-feet of independent living for Brian, which includes a private kitchen, bedroom and other amenities a traditional home would include, said project spokesman Derek Forney.

Sunday?s home reveal was an emotional moment for the entire family and makeover crews.

?Thank you all, thanks to everyone who supported us,? said Brian Keefer?s mother, Dawn, to the crowd and makeover crew.

And father, Steve Keefer, told the makeover crews he felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders, after builder Jeff Musser, told the family their $90,000 mortgage will be paid off with money raised through donations and fundraisers over the past week.

Musser said the building week was remarkable, couldn?t have gone any better.

?Earlier in the week was the hardest

when we did the framing and siding work; we had about 400 people working on those projects in tight areas, so it was more challenging to work under those conditions,? said Musser.

Brian Keefer?s new home includes an indoor therapy swimming pool so that he can rehab every day if he wants, rather than once or twice a year, said the show?s executive director Brady Connell.

Nine days ago, Brian Keefer couldn?t get his own glass of water or sit up in bed by himself, said Connell.

Thanks to everyone involved in the building project, Keefer will now be able to complete those tasks on his own after technology was installed in the home to help him live an independent life, he said.

Among visitors and spectators at the Keefers? return to their home Sunday was Patrick Rummerfield of St. Louis, Mo., the nation?s first fully functional quadriplegic.

In 1974, Rummerfield, now 57, was left paralyzed after he suffered injuries from an alcohol-related car crash. However, 17 years later, he regained movement and is now able to walk and live a normal life, although he said he tends to trip and fall at times.

?Brian is an amazing guy with all the potential in the world,? said Rummerfield, who has kept in touch with Brian Keefer via phone and at the Kennedy Kreiger Institute in Baltimore, where Keefer did his rehabilitation.

After touring the new Keefer home, Rummerfield said the home?s technology is incredible and completely different from when he was wheelchair bound more than 30 years ago.

?I?d like to have one of the therapy swimming pools in my house,? he said jokingly, in regards to the new pool for Brian Keefer.

- Reach Lauren Whetzel at 505-5432 or lwhetzel@yorkdispatch.com.

Article source: http://www.yorkdispatch.com/ci_18357072?source=most_emailed

Source: http://centralohionewbuilds.com/bus-moves-keefer-family-returns-to-new-home-and-paid-off-mortgage/

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