Austin family wins home makeover
Deteriorating home to be replaced, tailored to meet
special needs of autistic children.
By Patrick George
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Monday, December 11, 2006

About 8 a.m. Sunday, a man with a megaphone stood outside a Northwest Austin home to deliver a rather unorthodox wake-up call: "Good morning, O'Donnell family!"

It was the shout that the family of eight had been hoping for.

The man with the megaphone was Ty Pennington, the host of ABC's popular "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The O'Donnells learned officially that morning that their house was about to be torn down and that a new one would be built from the ground up in just a week's time.

The O'Donnells — Jeanette, Patrick and their six children — will get a new home without the mold, roof leaks, rotted wood and foundation and structural problems that plague their current house. However, the makeover also will give the family technological and educational tools to help better meet the needs of their children, five of whom have autism.

Jeanette, 45, once told the American-Statesman that she cries over episodes of the show. Now the mother of six is part of it.

The O'Donnells have been whisked away to a camp for autistic kids in Crested Butte, Colo. All the furniture in the home will be packed and stored today, and the house itself will be demolished Tuesday. Although the house will be different, the builders, carpenters, plumbers and designers will go through painstaking steps to make this their home.

"They are truly an amazing family," said Diane Korman, the show's senior producer. "We got hundreds of letters from school and community leaders telling us about the O'Donnells, telling us how amazing they are. They struggle with their kids, but they still love to volunteer at school."

Of the O'Donnell children — Caitlin, 15, Deirdre, 12, Erin, 10, Meaghan, 8, Patrick, 6, and Kiernan, 5 — all but Meaghan have varying degrees of autism, a brain disorder that impairs the way people talk, play, relate to others and respond to the environment.

They are the only known family in America with five biological autistic children.

Patrick works two jobs to make ends meet, but, according to a statement, the bank was about 30 days from foreclosing on the family's deteriorating home when Pennington's yell pierced the morning.

"Jeanette is the best mom in the world," said Brenda Wood, a family friend and special education teacher at Summitt Elementary School. Wood, who has taught the O'Donnells' five autistic children, said: "They are sweet, precious and interesting kids. They are just an awesome family, and they really deserve this."

"We're working with their teachers and doctors to make sure everything in the home meets their needs," Korman said. "We want the absolute best. With five autistic kids, we really had to do our homework."

Although Korman could not reveal too much about the reconstruction — that would ruin the surprise — she did say the artwork of oldest daughter, Caitlin, would make it into the new home.

"Caitlin is an incredible artist who has drawn all over the walls of the old home," Korman said. "We're going to find a way to put those into the new house because it wouldn't be theirs if it didn't have the artwork."

Ariana Freitag, 8, said she's been assigned the task of helping design a new room for her best friend Meaghan. She can't go into detail about what she has planned, but she can't wait to get started.

"I'm really excited," Freitag said. "It's gonna be so much fun."

Korman said she also hopes to pay off the family's mortgage and plans to do it Austin-style with a benefit concert at La Zona Rosa tonight at 6. Proceeds from the concert by country artist Trace Adkins will go to help the O'Donnell family.

Work on the home will continue 24 hours a day until the O'Donnells return next week. Georgetown-based builder Jimmy Jacobs Custom Homes will construct the house for free, and the entire block will be cordoned off while the show is filming. The network plans to air the episode in late February or early March.

Mike Boudreau, Jeanette's brother, said his family is overwhelmed by the windfall.

"It's amazing," Boudreau said. "This really is a God-given gift, and we're totally blown away."