By Christine Byers
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
BALLWIN, Mo. — A national nonprofit organization is planning to build a specially adapted “smart home” for Ballwin Officer Michael Flamion, who was shot and paralyzed during a traffic stop in July.
The Gary Sinise Foundation has already bought a property in Ballwin and is asking for donations from the public to build the home.
In a video message, Flamion and his wife, Sarah Flamion, thanked the public for its support. The Flamions are at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., which specializes in spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries.
In the message, Flamion’s hair and beard are grown out, and his wife is standing beside him.
Patches from police departments across the country adorn the cabinets in his hospital room. The plastic tube of a respirator protrudes from his neck, but he is upright and talking.
“Hi, I’m Officer Mike Flamion and this is my wife, Sarah,” he says. “We’re very thankful and excited for the Gary Sinise Foundation that’s helping us build a house.”
“We are very thankful for all of the people who have donated time and money to the foundation to help us get a modified home for Mike,” his wife adds.
Ballwin Police Chief Kevin Scott said at a press conference Thursday that Flamion is expected to return to St. Louis in mid- to late November. He will be placed in temporary housing that is wheelchair-accessible as he waits for his new home to be built.
Scott called Flamion “the bravest man I’ve ever known” during the press conference, and said he has visited him at the hospital in Colorado. He said Flamion is mentally in a “good place,” even though he is paralyzed from the shoulders down.
Flamion is the first police officer that the Sinise Foundation is supporting. The organization will have built or is in the process of building about 50 homes by the end of this year for veterans with catastrophic injuries. The homes typically cost from $500,000 to $1.4 million to build, said Jim Shubert, a foundation board member and owner of Shubert Design Furniture in Manchester.
Construction normally takes anywhere from eight to 12 months, Shubert said.
The community already has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Flamion during various fundraisers. That money will be used for Flamion’s lifelong support and medical care, and not put toward the construction of his new home, Scott said.
Through the Sinise Foundation’s Restoring Independence Supporting Empowerment, or RISE program, it helped build specially adapted smart homes for two severely wounded veterans in Missouri. Most recently, the group modified the home of U.S. Army veteran Chris Sanna of House Springs, who was shot and paralyzed during a robbery after he left a baseball game at Busch Stadium in September 2015.
The home will be custom-tailored to Flamion’s needs.
Features such as lighting that can be controlled throughout the home with one switch as well as heating and cooling help make living easier, noted spokesman Chris Kuban.
Donations can be made at GarySiniseFoundation.org/Donate or by check, which should be made payable to “Gary Sinise Foundation” with a note or memo citing Officer Michael Flamion as the donation recipient, and sent to Gary Sinise Foundation, P.O. Box 50008 Studio City, Calif. 91614.
Jay Wolfe Toyota of West County, the West St. Louis County Chamber of Commerce and others will present a wheelchair-accessible Sienna van to Flamion at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the dealership at 14700 Manchester Road.