MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Ever since Tyler Jackson was a little girl, her grandmother said she has always loved the water.

When Tyler was younger, this never presented a problem. Every day, her grandmother, Wytina, and her mother, Jessica, bathed her in the bathtub of the family’s Gordon home much like they would any other child. But as Tyler, who has a nonverbal form of cerebral palsy, grew older, it became harder and harder for Wytina and Jessica to lift her in and out of the tub. Knowing that Tyler would only continue growing as she got older, and wanting to provide a better quality of life for her granddaughter without the financial means to do so, Wytina put in a call to Milledgeville’s Habitat for Humanity to see if they could help the family out.

“I just realized that Tyler was getting older, and she’s much stronger now than she was before,” said Wytina of her now 10-year-old granddaughter. “We reached out for some assistance to try and supplement her needs because she requires more now than before. Based on her height and weight and stuff like that, we knew that the bathtub we had was just going to put strain on our backs, and we knew at that point that we needed to do something about it.”

“[Wytina] reached out to us and said they would really like some help because [Tyler] loved the water, and it was very hard for them to pick her up and take her in and out of the bathtub,” said Murali Thirumal, Habitat’s executive director for Milledgeville and Baldwin County. As luck would have it, Habitat’s statewide organization had just received a settlement for cases just like the Jacksons’.

“They approached us with that, and about the same time we had a grant opportunity … that was specifically for ADA compliance,” Thirumal said, referring to the Congressional Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. “A contractor was non-ADA compliant in the residential structures they built, and I really don’t know the particular details of the law itself, but we got hooked in because we’re a housing agency and the State of Georgia Habitat for Humanity was given an award [in the settlement].”

After hearing about the Jackson’s problem, Thirumal reached out to Habitat’s state support organization to see if a local grant could be arranged. The state office was sold on the idea and awarded $8,000 to the local chapter for a remodel of the Jacksons’ tub. From there, Thirumal reached out to Mike Wood Builders, the local contractor that had assisted Habitat many times in the past, to ask for its help remodeling the tub.

“Levi Wood is one of the sons of Mike Wood of Mike Wood Builders, and they’ve been great supporters of Habitat for a long, long, long, long time,” said Thirumal. “They’re the ones who really did the work, and they also gave us a break so that we could meet our budget.”

For a little more than two weeks now, the Jacksons have enjoyed a brand new shower equipped with a bath chair and handicap railings. While the rest of the family has graciously accepted Habitat’s gift, perhaps none have enjoyed the new shower more than Tyler.

“She loves it,” said Wytina warmly. “Like I told [the staff at Habitat], if she was mobile, she would be a swimmer because she’s always loved the water and its soothing effects. With those stiff limbs she has, it really relaxes her muscles, and at times she doesn’t want to get out of the tub.”

With the new shower completed, the Jacksons no longer need to worry about lifting Tyler in and out of the tub every day. While the new shower promises to ease the burden on Wytina’s back as much as it does for Tyler’s muscles, the Jacksons’ matriarch simply expressed her gratitude for the people who have helped her granddaughter in her battle against cerebral palsy.

“We’re so grateful that they were able to do that for us, and Tyler shows it,” said Wytina of Levi Wood and Habitat. “She’s not able to speak, but she shows it in actions, and we’re very grateful.”