Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - Season 2

The original plan called for renovating the home, but the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" team found that the house was beyond renovation. It was on the verge of being red-tagged because of, among other things, lack of heat, a leaky bathtub, broken windows and an old carpet so full of dust that it would give the kids frequent allergies. When the EMHE team realized this, it was decided to completely tear down the house and rebuild it from scratch! The nearly-impossible feat of building a new house from the foundation up in just seven days is revealed.

When a young girl was diagnosed with sun poisoning, it completely changed her life and that of her family. She is unable to go outside without first completely covering her body with a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, hat and gloves. Since the sun can also penetrate her clothing, she must apply full body sunscreen every two hours. With the combined effort from the team of designers, contractors, hundreds of workers and state-of-the-art technology, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" created a new living space that will enhance the quality of her life while making her living conditions much less restrictive.

After their infant daughter received a heart transplant to save her from the same condition that their son died of as a newborn, Cathy and Bill Grinnan made a promise that they would do whatever they could to educate others about heart disease. Despite their personal tragedies, the Grinnan family became crusaders for heart disease research and treatment. Now it's time for someone to give back to them.

For the past 25 years, Consuela Mackey has tirelessly helped those living with disabilities by providing them with job training, individualized training in personal care and education on workplace etiquette. Since she has devoted most of her life to helping others, it was long overdue for something extremely nice to be done for her. When the team from "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" came to Consuela's house in Granada Hills, California, they were able to give something back to an individual who has sacrificed so much for her community.

In this episode, a Jamaica Queens, New York family finally get their dream house -- two years after a contractor left them without a roof over their heads. With a house rendered unfit for habitation, Lucy Ali and her 12-year-old adopted sons, Paul and Kuran, had been living as urban refugees, hop-scotching from hotel to hotel, to relatives' couches and to a homeless shelter. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" brings the Ali house back to life when the design team and over 150 workers rebuild it.

During the "reveal" of the two-hour installment, actress Marlee Matlin and William "Bill" Austin, founder and head of the Starkey Hearing Foundation -- who travels all over the world fixing "broken ears" and is known as the "Santa Claus" of hearing -- presented Stefan with a $50,000 college scholarship check from the foundation. Later on, Marlee and Bill sat with Stefan's deaf mother, Judy Vardon, while she got her hearing tested for the first time in 20 years. Amazingly, Judy found she had residual hearing and was a candidate for a hearing aid.

Eventually, Child Protective Services was called and Benjamin was separated for three months from his parents, who were accused of child abuse. Nothing could have been further from the truth, and loving parents Gerald and Ellen Burns spent every resource they had trying to get their son back and prove their innocence. When it was finally diagnosed that Benjamin suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a genetic disorder characterized by bones that break easily, the Burns were cleared of the abuse charges and allowed to bring their son home.

A courageous mother has helped three of her adopted children and many others face AIDS with hope, teaching them that life is here for the living. Her recent bout with cancer has only enforced that belief. The Broadbent family from North Las Vegas will get back some of the love and happiness that they have provided to so many others over the years through their tireless work providing HIV/AIDS awareness.

As a struggling widow of three daughters, Roseanne Dore is no stranger to hardship. The family was dealt a tremendous blow when their Kingston, Washington home, originally built by Roseanne and her husband, burned to the ground in March 2004. Following the devastating news of the fire, Roseanne found out that their home insurance policy lapsed when their agent retired. The structure was uninhabitable. While figuring out what to do, Roseanne moved her three daughters into a half-built, backyard utility shed that had no plumbing, electricity or running water.

For the first time in the history of the popular reality series, design team leader Ty Pennington had to call the vacationing Anderson Family to tell them that the show had missed their deadline to complete the makeover on their home in South Central Los Angeles. After successfully racing to beat the clock to completely build a designer's dream house in a mere seven days for dozens of other deserving families, the unbelievable but inevitable drama has occurred on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" - the design team, contractors and workers were unable to finish a house on time.

While design team leader Ty Pennington was preparing to film this episode in his hometown of Atlanta, he underwent surgery for a perforated appendix. Although he was still recuperating, the energetic and dedicated Pennington did not want to let the family down. The episode incorporated his predicament into the show and captured how Ty was able to do his part from his hospital bed and, later in the week, to participate in the reveal for the Harper Family from the Atlanta suburb of Lake City, Georgia -- a family that had worked hard and sacrificed for all the right reasons, but still could not achieve their dream of providing a real home for their children. The design team was able to turn the Harpers' living nightmare of a house into a dream home come true.

When the "extreme" nine-member Harris family from Birmingham, Alabama received the remarkable news that their house would get an "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," Chris and Diamond Harris were thankful that some of the exhaustion that stems from taking care of their toddler sextuplets and nine-year-old son DeWayne would finally be relieved.

More than one dream of an eight-year-old girl with cancer has come true.

"Leomiti-Higgins Family" -- A caring and generous family from Santa Fe Springs, California, who took five orphans into their small house, are featured in an episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."

Robin and Doug Leslie were living an idyllic life with their four young boys and had moved into their dream home, a fixer-upper on eight-and-a-half acres on the banks of the Mississippi. The loving couple had been thrilled when they found the 130-year-old former plantation cottage with its two bedrooms and 1900-sq. feet. Despite being renovated in the 1970s, the historic house had taken a turn for the worse and looked dated with its shag carpeting and wood paneling. Nevertheless, they were excited to invest their time and care into a home that they could look forward to improving over the years. Doug, determined to restore it and bring it back to its original state of grace, was going to make this a home the family could be proud.

When Willie Harvey was diagnosed with epilepsy, his work as a mechanic and heavy equipment operator -- as well as the repairs he'd been making to the family's 1930s Army barracks home -- came to an abrupt halt. Employers wouldn't hire him for fear of possible seizures, and as a result Willie was forced into unemployment. His wife, Alecia, was working two full-time jobs and putting herself through nursing school to better provide for the family of six. Still, they were barely able to make ends meet. Meanwhile, their home was falling down on them! Built in the 1930s as part of an Army barracks, the Harveys' two-bedroom house was also home to several thousand troops of termites.

In November 2004, James Dolan of St. Petersburg, Florida made news because the unthinkable happened -- a deranged man with a gun walked into the electronics store where he worked and opened fire. In fifteen seconds that would forever change the lives of the Dolan family, three people died, including the gunman, who had shot James in the head. Miraculously James survived, but without his eyesight. Now James is in the news again, but for a much happier reason. The design team will replace the Dolans' 1960s-era ranch house with a brand new home that's more navigation-friendly for him.

Kansas City firefighter Stephen Johnson is a man who is used to rescuing others and a hero to so many, including to his own five children. The design team will renovate his home in a mere seven days, a fitting gesture to this man who, in addition to his dangerous duties as a firefighter, also works as a barber and a window washer in order to support his family.

A small two-bedroom house on Long Island, New York is transformed into a magnificent 2400-square-foot home for a young widower with three toddler sons. The return of this father and his children to the house fulfils the dying wish of a wife and mother who said that she wanted her husband and boys to come back to their house so she would "always know where to find them.".

In addition to the building of the new home in Flagstaff, the design team, workers and volunteers from "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" will also be building simultaneously a Veteran's Memorial Center on the Navajo Reservation in Tuba City, on land belonging to the Navajo Nation. The building will be the first of its kind and is for Native Americans who served in the armed services. Dozens of Navajo and Hopi military veterans attended the center's dedication festivities. Lori was the daughter of a Vietnam veteran and the granddaughter of a World War II veteran.