Sunday, April 17, 2011

It was a night the Carl Hall family, and now, most of America, will never forget.

Sunday, Carl's story of tragedy and perseverance was featured on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, as the nation watched a Wichita State baseball legend's life change, and an entire community gather to build a new home for a deserving family.

"It's truly amazing. It happened so fast, and everything went in fast motion, we still are taking it all in. The speed of it, though, was pretty overwhelming," said Hall.

In the Hall's rented home, it took Carl three hours to get ready each morning.

Now, with help from Bob Cook Homes, and innovative designers, Carl is able to do nearly everything on his own.

The home features 250 voice activation controls, an elevator, a therapy room, movie theater, indoor sports room, and a batting cage that allows Carl to once again pitch to his own son.

"It's really a neat place to be, and it makes everything so much easier on my family. All the other technology in the house, I still haven't learned it all, and most of my family doesn't even know half of it exists yet," said Carl.

For the first time since Ty Pennington's announcement on February 17, the Hall family said Sunday night's show gave them the chance to finally see the love, support and strength the community gave them - for free.

"To see how much support that the community really put in this, is wonderful. It's wonderful to feel they felt we were wonderful enough to do something like that for," said Carl.

The Hall family continues to receive scrapbooks, artwork and pictures from the community, as they documented the build.

Even though the show has finished, the family said now is not the end, it is the beginning.