WEST POINT, Utah -- For most Americans, the contents of a refrigerator don't usually have an immediate impact on our lives.

While what lies inside may ultimately have an impact on our waistline or our health, those are gradual changes that develop over long periods of time.

But for U.S. Army Cpl. Isaac Jensen, a refrigerator in a house near Malalah, Iraq, contained something that would change his life in an instant -- two one-hundred pound bombs.

Jensen, then a combat medic from 2-8 Field Artillery, Charlie Battery, out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska, was searching the home on Nov. 9, 2008, with two other Soldiers when one opened the refrigerator. The blast that followed shook the house and seriously injured all three Soldiers.

Despite his own injuries -- two mangled legs and nerve damage to his left arm -- Jensen was able to render aid to the other Soldiers before applying tourniquets to three of his own limbs.

Jensen was evacuated by Black Hawk helicopter, and received treatment for his injuries first at Joint Base Balad, then Landstuhl, Germany, and eventually Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"I remember lying in the hospital bed thinking, I've got a family ... my wife Bethany and my son James," said Jensen. "I've got them and I'm worried, what am I going to do? How am I going to provide for them?"

Two days later, Jensen was contacted by Homes For Our Troops, a national nonprofit organization that builds specially adapted homes for severely injured Veterans -- at no cost to the service member.

"It was almost too good to be true," said Jensen. "No one brought them to me, they just found me. I'm worried about it, and then all of a sudden, they came forward ... Homes For Our Troops came to me and said, 'We want to build you a home.'

"It's so much of a relief to know that even after what happened it's one less thing I have to worry about," he said. "Knowing that I have a home, my family has a home, we're going to be to live in it for forever, and that it's built custom for me -- for my needs -- is amazing."

Approximately a year after being notified, land being acquired and receiving all the needed permits, it was time for the groundbreaking.

After the foundation was laid that day, the walls of a new home for the Jensen family literally went up Feb. 10, in West Point, Utah. Homes For Our Troops and Rainey Homes held a three-day Build Brigade Feb. 10-12, which drew hundreds of volunteers from the local community and military.

During opening ceremonies Feb. 10, West Point Mayor Erik Craythorne thanked the community partners and volunteers, and welcomed Jensen to the neighborhood.

"It's a true testament to everyone's willingness to help out and build a home for this great family," said Craythorne. "We're honored to have him and his family as part of this community."

Air Force Col. Reggie Hall, 748th Supply Chain Management Group commander at Hill Air Force Base, said 30 members of his group -- military and civilian -- came out to support the Build Brigade. He said it was an opportunity to both give back to the community, and honor Jensen's service and sacrifice.

Jensen said it was impressive to see volunteers from all branches of the military.

"Everyone bleeds red ... we are all the same," he said. "Unless we work as a unit and unless we work as a team, we are nothing."

"And that showed here today," Jensen said. "As one, we can do more than groups of five (military branches)."

The goal of the three-day Build Brigade was to complete the shell -- the exterior walls and roof structure -- by Feb. 12. The home is being constructed by Rainey Homes, and should be complete within 90 days. The residence will have four bedrooms, approximately 3,000 square feet, and was designed with ramps and other features specifically for Jensen.

"I want to say thank you to every single person here," Jensen said, while at the construction site for the build. I don't have to worry about what's coming next because I have a place to live and my family has a roof over their heads. What more do you need?

Jensen said above all, through everything that happened there was one person who kept him going: his wife, Bethany.

"You held on to me, pushed me, and when I wanted to give up, you didn't let me," he told her. "I love you more than anything in the world. This is just as much for you as it is for me. If it wasn't for family, I wouldn't be where I am."

Finally, Jensen offered the following advice -- not just for others in similar situations, or only to those serving in the military, but to anyone facing adversity: never give up.

"It's OK to be angry, it's OK to be mad," he said. "The one thing you have to remember is there is no use crying over things you can't change. You have to learn to accept that in your life and to say, 'You know what, I can't change this. But I can change myself.' I can change the way I look at life and how I handle it.

"I got both my legs blown off, but I can still do what I want to do, and I'm not going to let them stop me," he continued. "The moment that you stop, and you throw in the towel ... they've won. They tried to get me with a refrigerator ... there were bombs in a refrigerator, and that's pretty sneaky in my book," said Jensen. "They tried to get me, but I'm not going to let them win. They didn't get me then, they won't get me now."

And as hundreds of volunteers listened on, gathering in the street and lining it with American flags, Jensen had one last thing to say.

"Today is not for me," he said. "Today is for you, and today is for every single member of the military out there continuing to fight the fight, losing limbs, losing lives for us. They work for us every single day while we're here doing what we're doing so they can come home to this."

For more information about Homes For Our Troops, visit http://www.homesforourtroops.org/site/.