- December 2, 2024
Loading
Retired Army Sgt. Lucio Gaytan was in awe when the garage door to his family's new home opened.
He watched as his 6-year-old son, Lucious Gaytan, ran to his new bike.
The toys and golf cart in the garage were just the beginning for the Gaytan family.
The Gaytan family went on to tour their new home in Sapphire Point of Lakewood Ranch July 12.
"I stand before you as humble as I can be and grateful and thankful for my family," Gaytan said before the ribbon cutting for his home. "This is a great honor. A great weight from my shoulders has come off knowing that my family is going to be OK. Allowing us to do this is like a reset so we can start moving forward."
PulteGroup's Built to Honor program, which included a partnership with Building Homes for Heroes and Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, constructed the mortgage-free home for the Gaytans.
Gaytan joined the military in 1996 and was injured during a parachute jump while training for deployment to Afghanistan in 2005. He continued with his deployment and served the rest of his career despite his injuries. He retired in 2018.
He had herniated discs, a degenerative disc disease, a lumbar sacral injury and spinal stenosis.