Jeffery Hull has faced more than his share of challenges in his 34 years.
When he was 17, with parental permission he enlisted in the U.S. Army. At 18, immediately after graduating from Puxico High School in 2001, he left for basic training at Ft. Benning, Ga.
"I signed up for three years so that I could get my college paid for after I got out," Hull explains. "I wanted to see the world. I went to Ft. Hood, Texas after basic and was in my last of the three years when I was deployed to Iraq."
Hull remembers his time in Iraq as the most challenging time of his young life, but he could't have known then what was ahead.
On Dec. 13, 2003, Hull was among the soldiers who were assigned to a special mission in Tikrit, Iraq.
"I didn't know what was going to place," he explains.
At mid-afternoon that day, Hull and other members of his Infantry unit found themselves at a remote farm compound located south of Tikrit, surrounding a bunker -- a hole in the ground about six to eight feet deep -- that housed for former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein.
"We were armed with M16s, and we all had our weapons in hand," he recalls.
Hussein was pulled from the bunker without incident, but it was a scene Hull, then 20 years old, would never forget.
"It was scary," he recalls. "Just scary."
Once he was pulled from the bunker, Hull and several others had a firsthand look at the confined space where Hussein had lived.
"There were American dollars all over the place," Hull recalls. "There was a place to cook, a bed and just piles of money (later determined to be around $750,000). He got air through a ventilation system that led to above ground."
In March 2004, Hull came back to the states, serving out his final months back at Ft. Hood. In September 2004, he came home to Stoddard County, but not with the same innocence with which he had left a year earlier.
Admittedly, he had severe emotional issues. The atrocities he witnessed while in Iraq were deeply imbedded in his mind. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severe depression. He turned to alcohol to get away from the pain that for him was deep and disturbing.
After 16 months at home, but having accomplished little, Hull and a friend were out in his truck. It was Jan. 21, 2006. Hull was driving. They were in a residential area of Sikeston, and Hull would later admit he should not have been behind the wheel.
"My phone dropped, and I bent over driving to pick it up," he recalls. "I don't remember much after that."
Although he was not driving at a high rate of speed, the truck went out of control. Hull's truck ran over two mailboxes, hit two parked cars, then careened through a duplex before coming to rest.
"I was really messed up," he admits. "I had come back from Iraq as a severe alcoholic, and I was high when the accident happened."
Jeff woke up in a hospital bed, with little memory of what had happened. He was first treated at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, but was later transferred to St. John Mercy in St. Louis for rehabilitation and then to a VA hospital for therapy for several months before coming back to Dexter to live with relatives.
Wheelchair bound, he explains, "I can feel everything from head to toe, but I'm paralyzed. I have no muscle tone and I have limited use of my hands."
He cannot walk. He uses a slide board to get in and out of bed and is totally dependent upon his mother, grandmother, friends or other relatives to take care of his needs. Special devices enable him to use his hands to operate a cell phone mounted on the arm of his chair. He receives therapy regularly and has dealt with the issues of PTSD through counseling and therapy.
Jeff Hull has one dream -- to live independently in his own home. Small steps have already been taken to help make that dream become a reality, but help is needed.
Through word of mouth, two local fundraisers and a Go Fund Me account online, a sum just over a few thousand dollars has been raised as a start to build the disabled veteran a place he can call home.
Longtime friend of Jeff and his mother, April Vancil, is Kellie Chasteen. It is Kellie's mission to see a home completed for her friend. Chasteen has been dubbed the project manager for what has been named, "Independence for Jeff Hull."
"God tapped me on the shoulder several months ago," Chasteen explains, "and told me I needed to do this."
Chasteen has spearheaded the effort to collect funds for the project, and to solicit labor and materials as well.
"We have had several people donate their time and material for the start of this home project," Chasteen says. "What we're doing is constructing a home for Jeff where a garage used to stand near his mother's home in Dexter. We've taken down the garage structure and have poured new concrete for the flooring. The project is moving, but it's going to take many more thousands of dollars to complete."
The special needs equipment for Jeff will step up the cost of what normally would cost much less.
"Everything's going to have to be built to accommodate Jeff's wheelchair. He will need easy access to the bed and bathroom area of the home," Chasteen says. "The home will only be about 750 square feet."
There is some grant money available, Jeff's mother says, but most require the walls of the home to be standing before the grant application can even be submitted.
The Veterans Administration will assist with the cost of ramps and an overhead track system in the home, but again, the project must be well underway before application may be made.
Chasteen and the family of Jeff Hull are gladly accepting any donations toward the facility that will provide independent living for Jeff.
"We have no timeline," Chasteen says. "We're just moving along as we have funding or volunteers provided. I just know that this is going to happen. God will provide."
Anyone wishing to obtain further information on this ongoing mission or to donate to "Independence for Jeff Hull," is asked to contact Kellie Chasteen at 573-625-0699.