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WEST POINT — A house being built on a street corner in West Point looks like almost any other house in the quiet subdivision surrounding it. But the story behind it is very different.
"I just don't even know what to say," said Issac Jensen. The house will soon belong to him, and the best part is it's not costing him a penny.
Jensen is an Army war veteran who lost both his legs in Iraq. A national group called Homes For Our Troops wanted to build the house for him.
"This house will be designed fully for me, dedicated to me basically," Jensen said. "All the counters will be at my height. I'll be able to access and do everything: shut off water, shut off gas."
It's boosted my spirits and made me think ‘Yes I can. I can do anything.
–Issac Jensen, Army veteran
#jensen_quote
When the group first got in touch with Jensen, he thought they were joking. "I looked them in the face and said, ‘Shut up. No you don't. That's a good one,'" Jensen recalled.
But sure enough, that's what this group does: build 33 homes a year for soldiers who need them. "They are 100 percent free to the veteran through corporate donors, fundraisers and sponsors," explained Jay Ribera, with Homes For Our Troops.
Jensen said when he first lost his legs, he was extremely depressed. But he figured he had one of two choices: He could either stay that way or accept what happened and move on.
"There's no use in crying about stuff you can't change," Jensen said. "I can't change the fact that I don't have legs. But what I can do is change the way I look at it."
He credits his wife with helping him get through it all. Now, with this house, he feels complete.
"It's boosted my spirits and made me think ‘Yes I can. I can do anything," he said.
The house should be done by Sunday evening, then crews will come back in a few weeks to landscape it all with sod, plants, trees and everything else the yard needs. The Jensens should be able to move in sometime in the next couple of months.
