‘Giving him hope’: Huntersville man raises money to build home for quadriplegics

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) – The Westmoreland family’s agriculture roots run deep. Growing up, Kasey Westmoreland loved to work the land like his father and granddaddy.

“But my biggest passion was farming,” says Westmoreland, who never had the chance to carry the mantle because of a traumatic spinal cord injury.

He’s a quadriplegic, relying on his caregiver and friend Candace Small. She uses a Hoyer Lift to help him out of bed and into his wheelchair.

“And my big size 15 shoes don’t help matters,” he joked.

The morning routine is a sobering example of the constant care he needs.

“The biggest thing is accepting that you’re paralyzed,” said Westmoreland. “Don’t accept that you can’t do anything.”

His will is matched only by his sense of humor.

“Kasey deals with his disability very well,” says Small.

“Here’s another thing, bugs!” he explained, asking for assistance in the middle of our interview. “I’ve got a bug behind my ear and I can’t get it.”

He’s learned to laugh such things off.

“It’s gone,” he said after Small came to the rescue to remove the insect.

“That’s a beautiful thing. That’s what she’s paid to do, wipe bugs behind my ear,” Westmoreland said with a smile.

One thing he can’t smile about is the shortage of reliable care. At his computer, he used a mouth stick to point and click on his idea.

“Here’s the design of the house,” he said, showing us drawings of Westmoreland Wheelhouse .

He plans to provide apartment-style living for six quadriplegics with a full-time staff.

“Caregivers are tough to find, they’re even tougher to keep. They’re overworked and underpaid,” says Westmoreland.

He and Small created a nonprofit with the goal of raising millions for the undertaking.

“Quadriplegics are either at home through the gauntlet of caregivers like I was going through, or they’re stuck in a nursing home,” Westmoreland told Queen City News.

“[Westmoreland Wheelhouse] will give our residents opportunities to go out and get jobs if they want to, to not have to worry about ‘Who’s going to feed me today?’ Because if there’s no caregivers they can’t eat,” said Small.

Westmoreland has experienced the caregiver carousel for two decades. When he was 16, a beach accident in North Myrtle Beach rocked his world.

“Tripped and fell, and face-planted, and immediately went limp face down in the water,” he recalled. “Once I hit the water, I don’t remember much.”

“I could not talk without crying,” says dad Keith.

The day Kasey broke his neck was heartbreaking for the whole family.

“He looked at me and said ‘Daddy, tell me this is not happening. I want to play football.’ He knew right then something was different,” Keith remembers vividly.

The former high school wide receiver was devastated.

“That’s really one of my memories that hit hard,” Kasey says.

His farming days are long gone, but Kasey now focuses on cultivating a project that could improve the quality of life for others with spinal cord injuries.

One fundraiser at a time, he spreads the word.

Last month, FearLess Adventure Park donated a portion of a day’s sales to Westmoreland Wheelhouse.

“Stand tall, no matter what chair you’re sitting in. That’s what we’re trying to get across to people,” says Kasey, repeating the mantra that is printed on the nonprofit’s brochures.

When we went out to the Westmoreland farm a second time, Kasey was in the barn exercising with a hand pedal. He has some use of his arms, but not his hands.

“This is my workout,” he said.

That’s how he stays active physically, with his farm dog Snoot by his side.

“If I’m outside, [the dog is] pretty close,” Kasey says.

Meanwhile, his vision for Westmoreland Wheelhouse gives him a sense of purpose. Kasey estimates it will cost four to five million dollars to buy land, build, and staff.

“If this thing doesn’t go through it’s going to hurt him in the heart, I know,” said Keith. “But it’s giving him hope.”

“I’m not afraid to stick my neck out, no pun intended, to get this thing done,” says Kasey, who is energized to make it happen.

You might say persistence is his wheelhouse.

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