Fundraising Efforts Underway For Injured Habitat For Humanity Volunteer
NASHUA, NH (CBS) - It's a huge step towards home for a New Hampshire man severely injured just two weeks ago. Forty-seven year old Carl Ellis was working as a volunteer on a Habitat for Humanity project in Nashua when scaffolding gave way.
Today he left a Boston hospital and moved to a rehab facility close to home. "All I could feel was my feet dropping and my hands going up and all of a sudden, down I went," Carl remembers.
He was roofing a house being built by Habitat when it happened. He fell two stories. "I was in a lot of pain. I couldn't move my body," he says.
His wife Amber got the call about the accident. "I didn't know if he was paralyzed. I didn't know if he was dead. I had no idea," she says.
Her worst fears were quickly relieved as Carl was airlifted to Mass. General Hospital in Boston. But his injuries are extensive. He smashed his femur in both legs. "I won't be able to put pressure on my legs for at least nine months," he says. "This is very severe and it's going to be a long recovery, but it could have been much worse," says Amber Ellis.
Thursday morning Carl was getting ready to move to a rehab facility in Nashua, near to his home. He's a father of four daughters. "I'm overwhelmed to be able to go home and see my kids for the first time in two weeks," he says, tearfully.
Carl has done volunteer work for Habitat for nine years, dedicating hundreds of hours to helping others. "It fuels him. It's his way of giving back," says Amber.
Now that's turned around. "To be on the other side of that, where now it's me that's getting the help," he says. "We have a really huge support system through our church and through all these organizations that he has supported over time," says Amber. And after more surgeries and a long recovery, Carl hopes to volunteer again. "My wife might say no, but if I can get on the roof, I would certainly be roofing," says Carl.
His regular job is running a driver's training school, but his doctors say he won't be back to work for a year. Habitat volunteers are going to make his house more wheelchair friendly, and friends have set up a Go Fund Me page.
If you'd like to help: www.gofundme.com/carlellis
Habitat for Humanity, Nashua: http://www.nashuahabitat.org/
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