FOX 26 viewers help wheelchair-bound Army vet return home

Wheelchair-bound Army veteran returns home thanks to FOX 26 viewers

FOX 26's Randy Wallace has an update on a wheelchair-bound Army veteran who was able to return home thanks to some generous FOX 26 viewers.

HOUSTON - "I remember nothing," said 64-year-old Army veteran Carlton Brooks. I remember waking up in the hospital."

On July 3, 2017, Brooks was riding his bike when a car hit him. Brooks went airborne the driver fled.

"I woke up can't move paralyzed my neck broke," he said.

Carlton and his sister Stephanie lost everything during Hurricane Harvey.

Carlton spent three years at the VA Hospital where doctors told him his condition had plateaued.

"Would never get any better and that hurt me," said Brooks.

While in the hospital Brooks bought a home. Then he discovered he was wheelchair-bound.

But a wheelchair wouldn't fit through the door or even the bathroom of his new home so Stephanie contacted FOX26.

"You were the one that answered, Randy. I appreciate you answering and you got it started," Carlton said.

RELATED: Paralyzed U.S. veteran needs help making home wheelchair accessible

"When I saw the story, I said I have to do that," said Aaron Lewis, owner of Luria Construction. "I have a lot of experience working with these types of situations, it was time to work so we could get him home."

Lewis made the home wheelchair accessible, including the bathroom and shower.

"I did fund a large portion of this, but this would not have happened had it not been for a few of my very important vendors," Lewis said. M&M Lighting provided all the recessed lighting as a gift."

"When he told me he was donating all the work, I said I'm going to find the nicest tile I can find and put something really beautiful together," said Michelle Zullinger with Colors By Earthstone.

We were there when Brooks saw his home for the very first time.

"Everything is great, words can not describe the feeling I have just to go through all this house and to see what God has created for me," he said.

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"I'm just glad it all came to a head like this, it's a beautiful thing," Stephanie said.

Lewis knew Carlton wanted to do something special for his sister, Stephanie.

He asked his relative Jonathan Zadok of Zadok Jewelers to make her a dog tag.

"It's my own dog tag. It says to my baby sister Stephanie. Love Carlton," she said. "I'm not going to take it off ever."