The Bobby Bones Show teams up with Building Homes for Heroes every year to help a veteran get a more accessible place to live. And it's that time again, the show has a new PIMPINJOY line showing off red, white, and blue.
This year, the Building Homes for Heroes home will be built for Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Anthony Thompson, his wife Ivonne, and their son AJ. Thompson and his wife Ivonne met in 2003 through a mutual friend. After two nights of hanging out with all of their friends, the two talked every day after. He left for bootcamp/training in August of 2003, so the two of them really got to know each other through letters. Fast forward two years, and they got married in May of 2005. Then Thompson had his first deployment in July of 2005. He had two deployments where he was awarded a Purple Heart amongst other awards, it was during his second deployment where he sustained his life altering injures.
Thompson was involved in a situation with a SVBIED (Suicide Vehicle Borne IED). When they first called Ivonne to share the news with her, they didn't have much information on the extent of his injuries. Ivonne looks back on that call and remembers not being calm, and very frustrated that they weren't telling her anything. She was teaching high school Spanish right outside of their base at the time and got a phone call from a number on the base. The first thing they did was ask for Thomson's wife and then proceeded to tell her to find a seat. She also remembers using many expletives because she just wanted answers. The explosion caused Thompson to land on the concrete rubble where he sustained a spinal cord injury, and a severe traumatic brain injury.
According to Ivonne, and his son AJ, Thompson is very healthy now. However, he is very limited. He's unable to speak or do anything for himself, and he is on a strict diet through a feeding tube. When Thompson was involved in the explosion, she was 20 weeks pregnant. It was only 5 months later that she gave birth to their son AJ. Because the explosion happened before AJ's birth, that's the only way he's ever seen his father and knows nothing different. Ivonne shared that AJ is their reason to keep going and always look for the silver lining in situations.
The Thompson family needs a more accessible living situation, which The Bobby Bones Show is hoping to help with their new line of PIMPINJOY having all proceeds go to Building Homes for Heroes. The new line of patriotic PIMPINJOY is on sale now here!