By Bruce Tomaso
Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — This summer, Carlton Marshall, a Dallas police officer gravely wounded in the line of duty, got a new home, thanks to ABC-TV’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
On Sunday, Marshall gets to be a TV star, thanks to the popular reality show.
The episode of Extreme Makeover that features Marshall and his family airs at 7 p.m. on WFAA-TV (Channel 8).
Marshall, a Dallas police lieutenant, spent almost nine months in the hospital after he was shot during an October 2007 drug raid in Oak Cliff. A bullet pierced his neck and damaged his spinal cord. He had a severe stroke and contracted meningitis. He was 44 at the time.
He’s still in a wheelchair and needed cochlear implants to preserve his hearing.
This summer, he and his wife, Susan, an Irving homicide detective, learned that their cramped, rundown brick house near Lancaster was being replaced by a 4,000-square-foot, wheelchair-accessible home complete with a custom-designed physical therapy center.
The home was built gratis by Cheldan Homes, a Fort Worth builder.
Hundreds of volunteers, including many of Marshall’s fellow police officers, pitched in to help demolish the old home and put up the new one.
“To see all these people come out and volunteering their time, it’s absolutely overwhelming,” the soft-spoken lieutenant said at the time. “It restores my faith in humanity.”
The Marshalls have two young children, Joseph and Jessica.
At 1 p.m. Friday, Marshall and his wife are scheduled to appear at a news conference at Dallas Police Department headquarters. There, for the first time, they’ll get a sneak peek at part of the hourlong show about their new home.
Copyright 2009 Dallas Morning News