Diabetic Amputee Gains New Home

As of January 6, Tommy Biggs, an elderly diabetic amputee, has a new home thanks to the vision of Curtis Cordwell, a big-hearted volunteer and member of the Collegedale Seventh-day Adventist Church who suffered a stroke himself just last year.

After Curtis’s stroke, he wasn’t sure when he would be able to return to work. His wife is a school teacher, and they have three children, so without his income their finances were tight. Curtis had been a contractor for 15 years and loved his work but couldn’t return right away because of the physical limitations of the stroke. In addition, the slow economy made finding work difficult. Even so, Curtis wanted to do something.

For a long time before his stroke, in addition to his paid job, Curtis had volunteered for the Samaritan Center, building wheelchair ramps for the handicapped through the organization, Kids in Discipleship. After his stroke, Curtis learned of the opportunity to build a wheelchair ramp for Tommy Biggs. Tommy had to have part of his leg amputated due to diabetes, and he was now confined to a wheelchair. This made it very difficult to get in and out of his home, and he desperately needed a wheelchair ramp. When Curtis heard of this need, he jumped at this chance to help.

In the process of constructing the ramp, Curtis uncovered an even larger opportunity for him to give back: Tommy’s house. It was in deplorable condition.

“The more I saw of the house, the more I realized I would never let anyone I knew and cared about live in a home like that, so I couldn’t let Tommy live there either,” Curtis remembers.

That’s when Curtis became inspired – he would get someone to bulldoze it, design a new layout himself, and get volunteers to help him reconstruct Tommy’s house from scratch. After prayerfully pondering the idea, he began to talk about his plans with Tommy.

“At first I didn’t take him seriously when he offered to build me a new house,” says Tommy. “I don’t trust people, and he was a stranger just like anybody else.” But Curtis was determined to win Tommy’s trust through his friendship, and he kept visiting him, getting to know Tommy, telling him about God and about his plans to build him a new home.

About two months later, Tommy agreed. Immediately Curtis launched his plans into action. Donating all of his own personal time on a volunteer basis, he began to use his contacts from his years of contracting to get as many materials donated to the project as possible.

In addition to bringing on board many donors of building materials, Curtis also got the Collegedale Church involved in donating $7,000 to help with furnishing the house, purchasing kitchen cabinets, and buying appliances. The Samaritan Center helped purchase the sewer permit and assisted with some other aspects of the project.

After two and a half months of construction, Tommy finally returned to his home on January 6. Curtis had the privilege of wheeling him up the ramp himself.

Building material sponsors and professional volunteers included Michael Bankston, Junior’s Building Materials, Insulation Unlimited, Alexander Tile, Ledford Construction, AJ Plumbing, Donaldson’s Plumbing, Eric Smith, Dan Ron Plumbing, Lain Moffitt, ABC Supplies, David James, Kids Center Construction Staff, Ryan Baxter, Ken Ojala, Mitchell Heat & Air, FM Russell, Collegedale SDA Church, Steve Casteel, Sam Bostick, Ooltewah Baptist Church, and some anonymous donors.

“Curtis is the only real friend I’ve ever had,” says Tommy. “I never would have thought something like this would have been possible. He has given me faith again.”

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Special thanks to this project's supporters: