Home Again: Hank’s Story of Resilience and Rebuilding in Grand Haven

He’s paralyzed from the waist down, numb in his hands and dealing with side effects from surgeries that can make it difficult to communicate. The physical challenges stemming from Hank Hawley’s horrible accident are overwhelming.

Yet, not even all of that outweighs the most frustrating fallout: Hank hasn’t been able to come back home.

For two years, the Grand Haven man has been living apart from his wife and adult son in an assisted care facility, while awaiting a new home with proper accommodations for his wheelchair. 

“Even though we see each other every day, it’s not the same,” said Hank, 77, a retired treatment specialist for the juvenile court in Ottawa County. 

“I’m excited about being home with my family.” 

The Accident

Hank was in Missouri one day in 2022 leading a training for a company that builds aerial adventure parks. As he brought a group of staff members up the inside of a 60-foot-high rock climbing tower, his foot slipped off the ladder. 

Hank’s hands came off the rails, too, and down he plummeted, smashing onto the cement floor several stories below. A helmet protected Hank’s head, but his back and neck were shattered.

“I realized there was something wrong because I couldn’t move,” he recalled.

While Hank survived the fall, the extensive injuries left him wheelchair-bound and in need of several months of rehabilitation. Then, because his existing home is not wheelchair-accessible, he moved into a care facility.

He has been there ever since.

Finding A New Home

The plan has been to get Hank and his family into a home that meets his mobility needs. Their insurance provider initially explored modifying their existing home, but ultimately determined that wasn’t financially viable. So, Hank and his wife, Leah, started looking for another home with Briana Beyer, a real estate agent in West Michigan. 

Beyer knew that finding an existing home suitable for Hank would be a challenge, especially in a tight market where sellers aren’t keen about waiting months for insurance money to complete the sale. She also knew that many homebuilders aren’t eager to jump into an ADA-accessible project because of the extra steps and expense involved.

Fortunately, there’s a new Eastbrook Homes community in the Grand Haven area that seemed like it could be a good fit. The Hawleys agreed. And Eastbrook was thrilled to be part of Hank’s journey.

Beyer brought together the homebuilder and Hank’s occupational therapist to come up with an accessible version of Eastbrook’s Georgetown home plan. Among the special features are a third-stall garage with room for Hank to get in and out of his handicap-accessible van, a zero-step entry, wider hallways with room to turn around in a wheelchair, roll-in showers and a master bedroom big enough to fit both a regular bed and Hank’s hospital bed.

“As soon as I met Hank, I just thought, ‘We’ve got to make this happen,’” Beyer said. “I just dream of the day they break ground for this family. 

“The day that this family can be reunited, I’ll be experiencing a lot of joy and fulfillment, thanking the Lord that this somehow all could come together.”

A Long Wait And A Bright Future

It was 18 months ago that the Hawleys put one of the homesites in Eastbrook’s Lincoln Pines community under contract. Since then, they have been cautiously optimistic about the insurance money coming through, but the process has not been a fast one. 

In the meantime, the rest of the available homesites in the popular community have sold. The only lot left is Hank’s.

Now, finally, the insurance company has cut a check for the down payment and the Hawleys hope to break ground on their new home this winter.

“It’s an absolute miracle that Eastbrook Homes has been willing to wait it out with us,” Beyer said. “I am just so grateful because it’s so evident that Eastbrook cares about people and is a good-hearted team.”

For the past two years, Hank hasn’t been able to do a lot of things. He hasn’t been able to climb the way he used to, of course. And despite being an avid cook, he hasn’t been able to use his own kitchen. 

In some ways, he just hasn’t been able to be himself. And that has less to do with the injuries he suffered than with the fact that he hasn’t been able to come home.

“There was the Hank before the accident – the climber, the backpacker, the avid outdoorsman,” he said. “Since the accident, I still see the same Hank inside. But it’s a whole different world outside.”

Although some things will never be the same, Hank is excited about the biggest thing in his life returning to normal. Through Eastbrook’s patience and persistence working with the insurance company and designing a beautifully-adapted home, Hank is now closer than ever to moving back in with his family. In fact, he’s already thinking about the first meal he’ll get to cook in his new home.

Whether that’s his wife’s birthday dinner in September or a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast next holiday season, the timing is less important than the people he’ll get to share it with.
“I just plan on being together with the family,” Hank said. “Eastbrook has stood behind me when they could have easily pulled out. I’m really thankful for their support.”