On October 16, Zach Ramirez was climbing in Gregory Canyon when he suddenly free fell 20 feet, hitting a ledge with his head, and then rolling another 60 feet down the side of the mountain. The fall caused a Traumatic Brain Injury that resulted in four brain surgeries, and 6 ½ months of care in four different hospitals. It was by chance that his dad, Ed, met Chris Layne, a former HBF recipient and current HBF board member, at a Craig Hospital dinner event for patients and family. She explained how HBF provided assistance to her family, and that HBF could help out with modifications to their house to address Zach’s mobility issues when he returned home.
Partnering with Boulder Creek Neighborhoods, HBF: installed a ramp in the garage to allow us to roll Zach in his wheelchair into our family room; put in a stair lift to get Zach up and down from the family room into the basement, his new living quarters; remodeled the our basement to make it more accessible by wheelchair for Zach by replacing the existing carpet with wood flooring, widening door entries, and remodeling the existing basement bathroom. The total retail value of the project is estimated to be close to $18,000, but as with all HBF recipients, there was no cost to Zach or his family.
“We were amazed and excited to see the remodeling completed in two weeks as promised. A big shout out of sincere thanks goes to Jim McDevitt, and his team from Boulder Creek Neighborhoods that were here from 8 AM to 6 PM every day to complete this project. The basement remodeling project was completed in June and Zach loves his new improved “Bachelor Pad”. He shows it off to his friends that visit him! The house improvements HBF made to our home made it easier for Zach to become more independent, as he continues to recover, and helped the family with his care.”
At the end of August, we held a celebration luncheon for the volunteers that worked on the project, and probably the most shocking sight to see, for the team, was Zach starting to walk and no longer dependent on his wheelchair and stair lift to get around.