HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Casey Westmoreland still remembers the day 20 years ago, playing with family and friends on Myrtle Beach.
"I was in the water facedown for several minutes and then they finally realized something wasn't right and decided to flip me over and told them I couldn't move," Westmoreland recalled.
He says he fell the wrong way into hard sand and spent several months recovering in the hospital. Westmoreland was permanently paralyzed from the chest down.
Since then, he's been helped by family and friends. His parents renovated their Huntersville home to accommodate Casey's needs and he estimates he's been through 50 caregivers. Westmoreland said it's incredibly difficult to find consistent, quality healthcare professionals to provide necessary services.
"There are no options around here for him other than going into a nursing home if he wasn't able to live at home, Candace Small, one of Westmoreland's friends, said.
Given Westmoreland's challenges, he and Small teamed up to create a facility that would make a difference for other middle-aged adults with spinal cord injuries looking to have productive lives. They're calling it the Westmoreland Wheelhouse. It would be home to six patients sharing a caretaker who would also live at the facility.
"What better person to do it than someone who's been there who's just done it, who lives it day to day," Westmoreland said.
They've secured a plot of land in Iredell County and are seeking donations to get the project off the ground. Click here to learn more about Westmorland Wheelhouse.
Contact Ben Thompson at bthompson@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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