Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
on ABC
By Ally Matteodo
For Mother’s Day, the May 9th
episode of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8:00 p.m. ET) focused on
the touching story of the Starkweather family of Tulsa, Oklahoma – a story which
earns it the title of Best TV Show of the Week. Amy and Toen, the
matriarch and patriarch of the family, express in a video to Ty Pennington and
his designers the challenges they face regarding their home. Not only is it
deteriorating, but their youngest son, Ethan, suffers from a malady called
Prader-Willi syndrome. On top of a diagnosis that deems this disease incurable,
Ethan suffers from poor muscle tone, labored speech, troubled breathing, and a
malfunctioning hypothalamus, which causes an inability to recognize when the
stomach is full. Therefore, Ethan constantly endures hunger pangs and is in
danger of eating himself to death. Amy and Toen have placed padlocks on the
refrigerator and pantry, but they still live in constant fear that Ethan will
break through these protections and put himself in jeopardy. Ty Pennington and
designers Paul DiMeo, Paige Hemmis, and Eduardo Xol rush to the rescue, in
addition to celebrity guests Sheryl Crow and Miranda Lambert. While the
Starkweather’s are sent on vacation to Disney World, the team rebuilds their
home, complete with a physical therapy room and coded doors for the stockroom
and pantry.
It’s explained early on in the
episode that Ethan is an inspiration. When the doctors first diagnosed him they
believed he would be unable to express emotion, yet this is clearly not the
case. In the past, the phenomenal Make-A Wish foundation gave Ethan a trip to
Disney World, and to “pay it forward,” Ethan decided to work to grant other
children’s wishes. As a representative for his local Make-A-Wish division in
Tulsa, Ethan inspires by raising money for other children and spreading
knowledge on his disease at the same time. Rather than become bogged down with
the cards that life dealt out, Ethan and his family worked tirelessly to not
only cope with their own problems, but those of others. When one person spreads
joy, it proves a lightning rod for others to mimic their behavior. The builders
Greg Simmons and Pete Kourtis of Simmons Homes lend their labor and materials
happily, and through a mortgage broker’s generosity, the Starkweather’s mortgage
is removed as well. What an incredible burden to have lifted from a family that
already faces their share of struggles! Sheryl Crow comments on how helping
others is the best feeling -- better even than playing to sold-out concerts of
adoring fans -- and the feeling one gets from assisting those in need is
blissful, and is a reward in and of itself.
Best TV Show
of the Week
The Parents
Television Council -
www.parentstv.org
