- April 28, 2024
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Sol Castro told her future husband, Ezequiel Rodriguez-Guadalupe, 21 years ago that she couldn’t cook. So Rodriguez-Guadalupe made a deal with her: I cook, and you clean.
He’s kept that deal, even after suffering spinal injuries and being confined to a wheelchair 18 years ago.
Rodriguez-Guadalupe served in the army’s 82nd Airborne Division from 2001 to 2003. He was trained in parachute assault operations and reached the rank of Private First Class before being medically discharged.
On Feb. 18, he spoke to the Knights of Columbus, San Damiano Assembly #3192, at the Tara Golf and Country Club for their annual Patriotic Ball.
“It all started in my third jump in Airborne School,” Rodriquez-Guadalupe said. “My parachute collapsed, and I had a horrible landing.”
Rodriguez-Guadalupe’s T12 vertebra was injured after that jump, but he was still able to walk and jump another 50 times afterwards. Over the next two years, his T12 became damaged to the point of paraplegia.
As part of the Knights of Columbus, John Joly is a fourth degree knight, which is the patriotic arm of the group.
“We live for veterans,” Joly said. “We give to probably 20 veterans’ organizations.”
This year’s Patriotic Ball benefited the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which provides housing to veterans, first responders and families of fallen soldiers.
Nearly 20 years after being discharged, Rodriguez-Guadalupe and Castro, along with their three children, are waiting to move into a home the foundation purchased for them.
The land was purchased in North Port, and the house will be customized to offer the entire family independence because everything will be accessible to Rodriguez-Guadalupe.
Now, he has to plan ahead when cooking. He needs help gathering the ingredients and cooking utensils. It’s also a struggle to be seated below the stove top.
“I get burned all the time,” he said. “One of the things I’m looking forward to is being able to reach everything.”
The cabinets and stove top in the new home will raise and lower. It’ll also have a larger bathroom. Showering now is cramped and uncomfortable. It’s not easy to maneuver from his wheelchair into the shower seat.
Once moved in, daily living won’t require the same effort it does now. The family was offered a home in the Let Us Do Good Village in Land O’ Lakes. They could be moved in already, but they live in Port Charlotte and want to stay close to family and their church.
The couple are originally from Puerto Rico and have become leaders in the Hispanic ministry at the Community Life Church in Port Charlotte over the past nine years.
“That has so much meaning. It’s not something to just let go of and go to a house,” Rodriguez-Guadalupe said. “For us, our faith is so important. It’s the glue that keeps us mentally well.”
The couple said it was a “double blessing” that the foundation understood and offered to find a home site closer to Port Charlotte.
"Every nickel we make goes to whoever we pick, and tonight it's going to Tunnel to Towers," Joly said. “We’re going to have a long relationship with Tunnel to Towers."
