Community works together to remodel home for paralyzed gymnast

PUYALLUP, Wash -- The community is coming together to help the family of local gymnast Jacoby Miles, who was left paralyzed after a training accident. Volunteers are putting on hard hats and picking up the hammers to transform the Miles’ family home in Puyallup to make it accessible for Jacoby.

“They are the most giving, most generous people I know. This is the least I can do to help,” family friend Stacie Tate said.

On Nov. 16, 15-year-old Jacoby fell on her neck during a dismount off the uneven bars. She remains in the hospital and is paralyzed from the mid-chest down.

Local builders, lumber companies, neighbors and strangers are coming together to help Jacoby and her family. In two weeks, they’ll transform the Miles' home, making it accessible for Jacoby and her wheelchair and giving her a new bedroom with a lift that will help her in and out of bed. And her parents will get a new master bedroom and bath.



The backyard is being transformed as well -- a new kitchen with widened doors and appliances that can accommodate Jacoby’s wheelchair will be added.

“We are going to work until we fall down -- we’ll get it done somehow,” Jacob Poisson said.

“I am just doing my best to work here and make the family happy and not have to go through a hard time for the rest of their life,” Joshua Tate said.

The house will grow by an additional 1,300 square feet and the project would have cost $75,000 but for the Miles’ family, it’s free. They hope to have it completed by Dec. 23, for Jacoby’s homecoming.

You can learn more about Jacoby’s recovery and how to help by going to goteamjacoby.com