When you're about to undertake a huge renovation project on a home that's to be gutted from top to bottom to accommodate the needs of a young man who faces a changed life after being paralyzed, who would you call?

T.J. Stewart called Mike Holmes, one of Canada's best known contractors and the star of television shows like Holmes Makes It Right and Holmes On Homes.  Yesterday (March 22) Holmes stopped in Airdrie to see the Straschnitzki home that his company has been renovating, and meet Ryan and his family.

Stewart, a friend of the Straschnitzki's who's been overseeing the reno in Airdrie, says Holmes has been involved since two days after the bus crash on April 6th, 2018, but wanted to keep it quiet.

"I actually got ahold of the Holmes Group on April 8th last year and told him of the scope of Ryan's injuries, and that we needed to modify the house.  His group said, 'yeah, let's meet and talk about it' so when the Strasz' got back to Calgary on the (April) 19th, we set a date and met with the Holmes Group and they said, 'let's get it done for this family,' so they've been involved since the very beginning."

The renovation includes an elevator so Ryan can access all the floors in the home.  Yesterday was the first opportunity for him to go down to the basement which precipitated Holmes' visit.  Stewart says, "He (Holmes) came out personally and gave Ryan a walk through the house and made sure there were no changes that Ryan wanted to make and just kind of explain to the family what we did and how we're doing it to make sure it's a safe, clean, healthy, environmentally friendly place as possible for them to come back to."

The grin on Ryan's face as he toured the house said it all, which, according to Stewart says a lot since there's still work to be done on the home.  

"The walls and everything are up but we have to do all the finishing stuff, appliances and paint and stuff like that.  He's pretty excited about being able to come home and he's really looking forward to it.  He thinks we've done an amazing job so far."

Holmes asked Stewart to keep his involvement quiet so as not to add to the "media circus" that's surrounded Ryan and the Straschnitzki family over the past year.  "The way Mike feels about it is, it was a tragedy that happened.  He just wanted to step in and help out and make sure that he didn't take anything away from the Strasz'.  This is their home and their lives that they're trying to rebuild and he just wanted to be able to help without any of the focus being on him."

Stewart indicated earlier this year that April was the month he hoped the family could move back in and he says that is still definitely the goal. 

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