A non-profit organization in San Diego
has donated an extensive home remodel to a gay Navy officer paralyzed
from the armpits down.
A motorcycle accident on October 30,
2012 severed Cmdr. Brian DeLaney's spinal cord, ending his career as
a skipper and leaving him in a wheelchair.
Embrace
has donated a full remodel of DeLaney's home worth approximately
$85,000.
The charity posted a video of DeLaney,
who was previously closeted at work, at home with his partner of 14
years, Frank Havens. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
“The video,” DeLaney, 40, told the
Navy
Times, “was actually the coming out.”
“I just completely separated my
personal and professional lives 100 percent,” he continued. “Four
ships and two shore commands – just totally separated my personal
and professional lives. My personal life had no bearing on how I ran
the ship.”
He said that he knew he was paralyzed
immediately upon hitting a guardrail: “I was trying to move my
right leg, and it wouldn't move.”
The remodel, which will make Delaney's
house wheelchair accessible, is expected to be completed before the
one-year anniversary of DeLaney's October 30 crash.