Community rallies for woman needing new home

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Carol Armstrong

Carol Armstrong was viciously beaten in the head after she finished cleaning an office building in North Charleston in 2002. These photos accompanied stories in The Post and Courier about her life following the attack.

In June 2002, Carol Armstrong was the victim of a vicious attack that left her blind in one eye and confined to a wheelchair, the left side of her body paralyzed.

After months of therapy, slipping in and out of comas and having surgery after surgery, she was able to return to her North Charleston home with her husband, James, and two boys, Jaime, now 15, and Alexander, 10. But their 1,200-square-foot house wasn't built for wheelchairs.

In 2004, Armstrong thought it too good to be true when a good Samaritan approached her with plans of wanting to give her a new handicap-accessible house.

Phillip Ford, executive vice president of the Charleston Trident Home Builders Association, read an article in The Post and Courier catching up with Armstrong's life.

Ford read about how she was beaten in the head that night after cleaning a North Charleston medical building and was left for dead by her attacker.

He read about the family's current make-do living situation and wanted to help.

"There was just something about her story that struck a nerve with me," Ford said. "And I thought there must be something I should do. That's the only right thing to do."

So Ford proposed to the home builders group his idea of remodeling the Armstrongs' house. But Ford and designers eventually found it would be easier to build her a new home.

At first, Armstrong said she was very doubtful of the idea of being given a debt-free house.

"I really didn't believe it," she said. "It's what we needed, but it was just too unbelievable to imagine — too unreal."

But Ford was really serious about wanting to raise enough money to pay off the entire house and construction. It's the first project like it that the group has ever done, according to him.

Already more than $25,000 has been donated to the Carol's Home fund by the community and several local businesses.

And they're still looking for more donations to at least pay off the rest of the mortgage of the $75,000 lot.

In April, the Armstrongs broke ground at the lot of their new Knightsville home.

And from sun up to sun down last Thursday, a group worked on the house's frame in what the home builders group called a local edition of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

The Armstrongs' new 2,400-square-foot home will be twice as big as their old one.

"She'll be able to take on a bigger role in her children's lives," said Melissa Villegas, communications and marketing director of the home builders association.

Currently, Armstrong can't get into her sons' bedrooms by herself to see if they've been cleaned. James would have to push her in her wheelchair, squeezing themselves through a narrow hallway and jamming the wheelchair through the door frame.

"She'll be able to do more of the things that we take for granted," Ford added.

No longer will Armstrong have to brush her teeth over the kitchen table. She'll be able to roll right up to the bathroom sink, her vanity mirror or the kitchen microwave if she needs to.

She'll be able to go outside by herself to garden or play horseshoes, thanks to two ramps, one from the back door and one through the garage.

"The house's design is detailed for us," Carol Armstrong said. "And we'll use every foot of the house."

She said she's most looking forward to just moving around without bumping into furniture and walls and that she'll have a space she can finally call her own.

"Right now, I can't escape from anything," she said. "But soon, I'll being able to move from room to room by myself. It's something I can't comprehend. The possibilities are unlimited."

Since the new house will be a totally new environment for her, Armstrong said she doesn't really know what to expect.

"I know I'll be finding out new things, and I'll be learning a lot," Armstrong said. "But I don't mind that at all."

The new house is not only her dream, but her husband's, too, she said.

Hopefully, if the house is completed in time, Armstrong said she wants the house to be her Christmas present to her husband for staying strong and coming through these past several years.

The new house will mean change for his family, said James Armstrong.

"We'll get a fresh start," he said. "It'll be freedom for Carol. She'll be more independent."

And without worrying about paying the mortgage, the Armstrongs will be able to put more money into savings and to pay off medical bills. "It's all overwhelming, but overwhelming in a good way," Carol Armstrong said.

But she doesn't feel worthy of all the donations.

"I can't justify all this attention," she said. "I'm just very appreciative, and I hope they (all of the construction workers and volunteers) get blessings out of it as well."

"These are very compassionate people, and I'm using compassionate to its fullest definition," Armstrong said about the volunteers.

"They understand what my family is going through. And it's not just been an extreme home makeover. It's been extremely life changing," she said.

Reach Almar Flotildes at aflotildes@postandcourier.com or 745-5857.