There are many times Floyd Amburgey feels trapped in his own home.

He typically leaves his Seymour residence just once a day, when the city’s handicapped-accessible public transportation bus picks him up in the morning to take him to his job at city hall, where he does clerical work in the parks and recreation department.

Other than work, Amburgey is confined to his home due to his physical disability. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy before the age of 2 and has never had the use of his legs.

He relies on a motorized wheelchair to get around at home and at work, but he has no way of going anywhere else.

“I have cabin fever,” Amburgey said. “I’m stuck in the house constantly. All I do is go to work and come home.”

He spends most of his time at home alone watching movies on his older-model rear-projection big-screen television. Over the years, he has amassed quite a collection of DVDs.

“I’ve got about 1,500 now,” he said. “They are all over the house.”

Amburgey has DVDs on shelves in his living room, in special cases stored in his bedroom closet, stacked in his bedroom and in his closet.

“I like any and all movies,” he said. “I like action movies, I like horror movies, but my favorite movies are those that deal with friendship. Like I love ‘E.T.’ and ‘Steel Magnolias.’ I’ve seen those movie hundreds of times, and I still cry.”

In the couple of hours while the movie is playing, he “escapes,” he said. But he still wishes he could “go to the movies” like anyone else and enjoy watching films on a huge theater screen with surround sound and the smell of fresh theater popcorn.

“Due to the fact I don’t drive and my family and friends are getting older, I don’t get the opportunity to get out and enjoy life like an able-bodied person does,” he said.

The last time he went to the movies was last February when his niece and her boyfriend visited and took him to see the new Disney “Beauty and the Beast” movie.

Before that, the last movie he saw on a theater screen was the Johnny Depp movie “Dark Shadows” in 2012.

He would gladly take public transportation, but the city’s buses do not run at night or on the weekends.

That’s why Amburgey is seeking public support to make his wish come true.

He wants to have a home theater built onto his residence to allow him to “feel like a regular person” and to give him a way to leave his home without actually leaving.

“I thought people have home theaters, so I decided to just go for it,” he said.

Amburgey said he first had the idea a couple of years ago and even went so far as to set up a GoFundMe account, which brought in around $1,000 in donations. But it wasn’t enough to build the theater, so he decided to forget about it for a while.

A couple of months ago, he decided he was ready to try again, he said.

He has set up a new GoFundMe account with the goal of raising $50,000 to build and equip his home theater with a huge screen, DVD projector and theater-quality surround sound system, comfortable theater seating for friends and family, a popcorn machine and storage for his film collection.

“I would like it to look as much as a regular theater as possible,” he said. “It would really help ease the cabin fever and give me the illusion of getting out of the house for a while.”

Certain movies he has, like the “Indiana Jones” and “Star Wars” movies, are meant to be seen on a bigger screen, he said.

He also is trying to pursue grant opportunities to help raise money, although it’s not as easy as he thought it would be.

“I contacted the Dream Foundation, but they told me I had to have a terminal illness or only have a year to live,” he said.

Amburgey is not one to give up easily, and in his life he has defied the odds.

Because of his condition, doctors said he likely wouldn’t live to be 10 years old, he said.

But in November, Amburgey will turn 57.

He doesn’t want people to think he is lazy and just out to take people’s money to build his theater. He just can’t do it on his own, he said.

“I guess I shouldn’t want it because I can’t afford it, but I do,” he said. “My job pays very little for the fear of hurting my Social Security. I am on a very limited income, and it takes all the money I get to pay my bills and eat.”

Amburgey said he would appreciate people’s help so much.

“People don’t even realize how much I would appreciate it,” he said. “If I was able to get a home theater, tears would just start to flow and wouldn’t stop for a very long time.”

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To make a donation to help build a home theater for Floyd Amburgey, visit gofundme.com/home-movie-theater-please or call Amburgey at 812-569-0919.

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