Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

The Powers had tried to make improvements to their fixer-upper home, but when youngest daughter Olivia was diagnosed with a life-threatening form of leukemia, caring for her became a family affair and took time away from working on the house. Now cured, Olivia got through her cancer treatment with the loving support of family and friends, including a special mural in the house her mother painted that reads: ""Take one day at a time…live, love & laugh…be strong, be you…breathe.""

When Trent Woslum, a sergeant in the California National Guard, was finally able to buy his family their first fixer-upper home as a Christmas present in 2002, little did he know that by Valentine's Day he would have to leave the house, his wife and three sons behind to serve a tour of duty in Iraq. Unbeknownst to wife Dawna and the three sons — Steven, 12; Nicholas, 7; and Alex, 5, who were sent on vacation to Disneyland for seven days while the house was being transformed, Trent returned home from Iraq.

For years John Cox traveled worldwide to help churches and organizations. Meanwhile, to support her dedicated husband's endeavors, his wife, Wendy, quit her job as a nurse to stay at home and care for their three young daughters. When he received a permanent position as a youth minister, John was able to buy his family their very first home. Now their humble abode has received a complete renovation and been transformed into a real dream house.

When Contessa Mendoza was 17 years old and still in high school, she made the tough decision to become a single mom. This exceptional young lady went on to become the valedictorian of her high school graduating class and eventually earned her masters degree. Despite enormous odds, Contessa, who is a social worker, has given everything of herself to raise her daughter and two foster kids. When it was decided that the Van Nuys, California house where Contessa Mendoza and her family live needed more space, the team of designers and workmen of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition stepped in and made some dramatic changes, including adding a second story to the house.

The McCrory Family is very large. They were living in a very small house. With two sons already, they found out the were going to get triplets. Can EM:HE give them a bigger home for their children?

""Sweet Alice"" Harris is known for her kindness and watchful eye on the neighborhood. Her house went through some floods though and desperately needed a makeover. But, with the show title being Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, they got a great one.

Robert Gil's life and his family's was changed forever when he was involved in a car accident and left paralyzed form the neck down. They had a two-story house and Robert had no way to get up there. The design team, sweet as they are, added an elevator so that he could see the rest of his house.

Several years ago, when Freedman Hardin II lost track of his father, he decided to go looking for him. As luck would have it, he found him on Father's Day four years ago. Freedman II had a full family and no spare space for his father to sleep, his father lived in a fifth wheel trailer outside their house.

An SUV crashes into a house. No one was hurt. John Tugwell, a former Vietnam veteran who presently works for the U.S. Postal Service, and his wife, Susan -- a fourth grade school teacher and avid reader who loves design and architecture from the grand style of the Italian Renaissance -- have been married for 28 years. Until the accident, their daughter, Abbey, 25, and infant granddaughter, Jamie, lived with them. Susan would love nothing more than to have her family all live together. The family was sent to Las Vegas for vacation.

They live in Yorba Linda, California. There are nine children and no father. Greg Walswick died of cancer a few years ago. They deserved this so much.