>>> one of the joys of working on this show is being able to tell your stories. not every story though has a happy ending but now and again we find a few that do. like disabled veteran john moore. >> a split foyer, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, rooms its owner has never set foot in. >> 98 to 99% of my time right here in the living room. i can't sleep laying flat so i use the recliner because it keeps me elevated and it takes the pressure off my spine. the bathroom has been a really big challenge. bathing especially. i usually use the sink to bathe. >> these 7 steps represent the biggest obstacle between john and freedoto not only enjoy the rest of his home but a world and way of life he enjoyed. >> i was born in illinois in 71. and my mom ended up marrying when i was 3 i think to a gentleman and we grew up fairly poor. had some hard times. >> life for john got even harder when he was attacked by a group of boys on the neighbourhood playground. >> i rember i was swinging. they told me i had to pay a fee to swing on their swing set. i had a little smart mouth on me too so i was like no, you don't. this is a free park. that led to me getting a good whooping and they left me on the field for dead. john recovered and they moved to the country renting a house from a farmer. >> my sister and i, my mom was at work. we had a 13-year-old babysitter. i was 8 my sister was 3 and i was playing with matches. and lit the house on fire. complete accident. the whole house burnt down. we lost everything. my sister was burnt 50% of her body. just about lost her. >> john and his family survived. >> when i was 14 i got lucky i got a job. i lied about my age and got a job at a saw mill. georgetown pallet, making wood pallets. i worked in a saw mill from midnight to 8, went to school, took a shower at the gym and went to school during the day. >> then he caught a glimpse of a way out when navy recruiters came to town. i didn't want to live the way i was already. it was my chance to try to get an education and i joined the military right after my 17th birthday. i was in boot camp by december. >> as the navy air crew man he traveled all over the world. he got married, served his country for 7 years until he was injured. >> f-14 squadron, we were doing security checks on bases. we were doing the security check around the squadron and i was following a gentleman who was introducing me to the f-14 and different things about it when i was following him, he

wall and cut the bottom off to fit to form to the new cabinet. >> my name is andrew fit patrick. we are at john moore's house and we have done modifications to make his life easier. this is the master bedroom door here. we took it out a standard 36 opening door. took it out made it a pocket door 36 inches wide. he can wheel his chair straight through the door opening into his master bedroom. >> i wasn't expecting to have this done. >> coming from here to his master bath, this was a 30-inch opening. not very wide at all. and john moore was not able to come through the door so we widened this open to a 36-inch opening so where we will have double hung doors swinging into the bedroom he can wheel his chair straight through. >> more than i could ever imagine been done. i can't even express the gratitude that i have. >> in the bathroom area, this will all be custom tile. the floor, through the floor, custom cabinetry work up for a vanity, and then over in this area was the master shower. we pulled the master shower out this will be custom tile work up to the ceiling line and we will have a hand held device with a bench seat built into it so he can wheel his chair straight up, slide out of the chair on to his bench seat, he can take a shower and then slide back into his chair, wheel out do whatever he needs to do. >> this will give me a new life completely. it will give me ability to leave the house from being stuck on the couch for the last two years. >> another thing we did is this back door, swung the opposite direction a 32-inch opening door. took the old door out, widened it to a 36-inch opening so he can come off the elevator, wheel straight into the house. >> i am starting school in january hopefully be able to get a job again >> i think you will find it easier now john when you come out, opening this, jumping on to the elevator being able to go down with just the simple press of a button again should make your life a whole lot easier to manoeuvre so you will get on and try? >> sure. >> how do you like it? >> gorgeous. >> think it will make your life a little easier? >> oh, yeah. >> gives you a good, proud feeling when someone likes what you do. >> this will actually change my life. i will be able to get in and out of the house now instead of transversing 18 plus stairs that. will do good. >> now why can't all stories turn out like that? we got to give a shout out a total of 22 companies make up the georgia anch of associated general contractors young leadership program donated material and person power to renovate john's home the cost $180,000 to $200,000. the nonprofit that got it started for john is operation home front. for more on how you can help them, visit the website at operation home front.net or call ... >>> ahead, 11 days of fun at