By Kathleen BergerRecord Staff Writer“Making Every Day Count” is the inscription in Army Spc. Andrew Bechtle’s wedding ring.  They are words his wife, Heather, carefully chose for their life together. A life characterized by more questions than answers.“I’m pretty much paralyzed,” Andrew said. “I can’t move my legs unless I pick them up with my hands.”The Bechtles tell their story from the comfort of their family’s home in Warrenton. Heather’s mother, Tammy Baines, sits close by as she helps coordinate a Christmas homecoming filled with unexpected holiday blessings from people they have never even met.Their story began with a whirlwind romance on the road from Kentucky to Missouri.“It was 18 days of traveling in a big diesel truck. I don’t think there’s a way you can get to know someone better than that, “ said Heather.Last year, Heather left Missouri to visit a friend at Fort Knox in Kentucky. That’s where she met Andrew, from Nevada, Mo. Andrew is an Army Specialist in the 19th Engineer Battalion at Fort Knox. At the time, he was assigned to the 76th Engineer Company. During Andrew’s eight years in the Army, he served in Iraq and Afghanistan.During the visit something clicked between herself and Andrew. They decided to travel together to Missouri for the holidays. Their courtship lasted 26 days, including 18 days on the road and, finally, meeting each other’s families.While traveling, Heather received a text message from her Fort Knox friend. “Are you guys going to come back married? Or are we going to do it when you get back?” the message said.At that moment, Heather said she looked at Andrew. And they knew.“We were kind of laughing about it and we were looking at each other like, ‘Do you wanna?’ Three days later we made it happen,” Heather said.After the 2013 New Year’s holiday, the couple got married in Kentucky with family members watching via Skype. They had four computers set up so both sides of the family could witness the ceremony.But Heather and Andrew felt that wasn’t enough to start their new lives together. They decided to have a huge June wedding at home surrounded by all their family and friends.“Part of our wedding was a foot washing ceremony to demonstrate being able to serve each other, and we had no idea how fast that would come into play,” Heather said. “Just over a month after the wedding to start genuinely walking out what it’s like to serve each other — making every day count was so, so critical.”After the wedding, Andrew was deployed to Fort Campbell to build an obstacle course. Andrew was driving a military vehicle on the Western Kentucky Parkway when the vehicle blew a tire, which caused it to roll several times.“The front driver’s side tire of the truck that I was driving blew out,” Andrew said. “As soon as we went airborne, I closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, I heard somebody say ‘he’s not responding’.”Andrew is now in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down.“It’s an L1 burst fracture,” Heather explained. “Basically his entire vertebra is just blown to little pieces. So they had to go in and remove the pieces and put in rods and pins to hold his back straight so that it wouldn’t move. It’s a nerve injury. It can take two to five years before they know exactly what we’re looking at.”But Andrew has hope that he will walk again.“I have a little bit of feeling in my right leg. If something’s touching it, it feels like it’s sleeping,” he said.Andrew said the feeling in his leg is progress over these last few months. Andrew fully believes that with continued physical therapy and modern medicine he will walk again.“I got to believe I will, so that way I’ll actually have something to work toward,” Andrew said.Heather shares her husband’s hope.“There’s the robotics aspect, there’s stem cell. There are so many different directions. So we believe the science will be there within his lifetime. That and his determination is going to get him there,” she said.The couple pledge nothing will hold them back.“It’s kind of like starting over. As a new couple who was just starting out, it’s very trying. But we’re making it and we’re figuring it out,” said Heather.Home for the HolidaysTraveling home for the holidays seemed impossible, but they say small miracles found them, guiding them home.Heather’s mom, Tammy, called a real estate company looking for handicap accessible accommodations. Tammy was told to call the USO of Missouri.“I told them I want to bring our wounded warrior home for Christmas,” said Tammy.Tammy said the magic happened almost instantly. The USO helped coordinate and pay for the couple’s hotel stay at Warrenton’s Holiday Inn Express. They received travel related donations and gifts from Warrenton area businesses. One of the biggest blessings came when the USO placed a call to a St. Louis-area construction company to build wheelchair ramps at Tammy’s home and her brother’s home, where family Christmas gatherings are held.KLS Management’s Project Manager, Chris Barge, and his crew from Home Depot in Town and Country made it happen. It’s a volunteer project with Home Depot donating the materials.“I saw so many stories of vets not being able to get into their homes properly, so Home Depot and I teamed up together and we decided to start helping vets,” said Barge.Home Depot employee and volunteer Tom Wagoner helped build the ramps for Andrew.“His one wish was to come home for Christmas, and I’m glad we can be part of bringing him home to see his family for Christmas,” said Wagoner.“That’s the cool thing about it,” said Barge. “I went to Tom Wagoner at Home Depot and said there’s a vet who needs to come home for Christmas. And he said, ‘When and where?’  Home Depot doesn’t say how much is this going to cost. They don’t say anything like that. They say, ‘Is it for a vet? Let’s do it!’”Andrew said he couldn’t be more grateful.“It was several prayers answered to be able to come home,” said Andrew.It’s the Bechtles first Christmas as a married couple.“To be able to sit around and laugh, joke and play games. With all the stress and all the things that have happened, to feel like a family—to feel normal has been the best part,” Heather said.Making Every Day Count“To be able to come home again is making those days count,” Heather said. “Making every day precious.”Now the couple is looking forward to achieving their New Year’s goals for 2014. They want to start a family. Andrew’s condition poses new challenges, but they say they are not giving up with the help of fertility experts.“I want to have a total of 10 kids, but I want to be able to adopt some,” he said.Heather smiled and said with Andrew, nothing is impossible.“There are many, many times where he’s the one comforting me. He’s been so strong through everything,” said Heather. “It amazes me how strong he’s been every step of the way and we just kind of hang on and figure it out as we go.”

Andrew and Heather Bechtle were able to spend the holidays with family in Warrenton thanks to the generosity of volunteers who built a ramp for the wounded warrior. Kathleen Berger Photo.