Extreme Makeover Home Edition filming in Lexington, NC

Dear Ty and Team,

I feel my daughter deserves a home makeover. I am the 54 year old mother of a 19 year old son and my 23 year old handicapped daughter. I also take care of my x-husband a 52 year old disabled man.

My x- husband at the age of 41 had a disabling stroke. Richard’s right vertebral artery dissected and destroyed the cerebellum (the posterior aspect of his brain). Since then he has developed multiple medical conditions. I still assist in his care.
Danielle is a lovely young lady. She was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor at the age of six months and was not suppose to live to be a year old. Danielle just turned 24 on June 1st. She has suffered many treatments and various health complications. She is legally blind, has severe osteoporosis, lack of muscular coordination and is mentally approximately 4 years of age. She has had approximately 5 eye surgeries, 3 craniotomies, multiple fractures and has bilateral cranial shunts. She fractured her right tibia plateau transversely under her knee cap and was bed ridden for approximately 8 weeks. Danielle had chemotherapy for a year through MUSC. We had to purchase a used RV due to her lack of bowel and bladder control. We have since had to replace it (we just take a jug of water and clean clothes for her). She had the maximum dose of radiation to her entire brain at the age of 6 months which has caused many of her health complications. She needs a totally handicapped home with a room built for a small stature person with very bright colors. Can you please HELP!
Danielle saw several doctors at MUSC on March 26th 2010. She has slightly elevated cholesterol but is doing wonderful. She needs to lose weight as well as her mother. We are working on that and trying to work out a little. That is difficult with my poor knees and her osteoporosis; but we are attempting very low impact walking, etc. I will get her a small lap pool in a year or so. I have always tried to have her some type of pool for exercise.
Danielle’s teeth and mouth are doing much better. We are hoping she will not have to have that last tooth (that’s in the roof of her mouth) surgically removed. It has moved slightly towards the side of her mouth; since the baby tooth was removed.
The end of December I found a very hard, non-moveable mass with appendages, under my right arm. It increased in size as time went by. I eventually obtained an appointment for mammograms and an ultrasound of the area. No masses were visualized but surgical consultation was recommended. It was surgically removed on the 29th. We were told after the surgery that it was benign. I had it removed at the Waccamaw Breast Center by Dr. Brackett. Everything went well. My surgical follow-up was April 12th. I went for the appointment alone; with the understanding I was only having stitches removed.
When the surgeon came in; he stated much to his amazement, the mass was a very malignant and extremely rare form of localized aggressive infiltrating cancer called syringoid eccrrine carcinoma of the sweat glands and skin. Also, unfortunately he had not removed it all. I would require a second more radical surgery of the right axillary and breast area.

So the second more aggressive surgery was scheduled for April 19th.

I requested an MRI of my breast and the axillary regions, hoping to visualize the remaining mass. An enlarged lymph node was visualized on the MRI on April 15th. Uncertain if it is a metastatic process or just involvement from the original syringoid eccrine carcinoma. The actual cancer was again not seen.

The surgeon was able to obtain clear margins on the remaining cancer, and 5 prominent lymph nodes were removed. He feels only close follow-up is warranted. MEANING! I am not required to have radiation treatments. I had major surgery on April 19th and the 23rd drove my x-husband 4 hours for his 2nd total hip replacement.
I had an appointment at Duke with Dr. Atwater and she was very knowledgeable. She had a patient with syringoid eccrine carcinoma of the scalp. It was nice to have someone who was familiar with this type of cancer and had follow up recommendations. The axillary mass may not be the PRIMARY CANCER. It can come from the breast or GI tract. I have already had a detailed breast work-up so the next step is the GI. She doesn’t feel it is a metastatic process but wants to rule it out. I am in total agreement. We are talking about me (we all know I should always expect the unexpected). She is also requesting the path slides etc. be sent to Duke and their pathologist review the slides and verify or not the diagnosis. Dr. Atwater wants to see me every 3 months. I don’t know for how long but whatever it takes.

I had a consultation appointment with Dr. Cornell July 14th to discuss the GI workup. I have Barrett’s Syndrome which is inflammation of the esophagus and is a precursor to cancer. This does put me at a higher risk for this being the primary. I am going to stay positive and believe the axillary mass was the primary and not a metastatic process.I had an EGD done on July 16th and several biopsies were done. I hope to get the results soon.
I also had a left breast lesion removed on June 22nd. Luckily it was precancerous.

I am totally out of sick pay (the least of my worries). I had surgery on April 19th and I drove Richard to Duke on the 23rd for his right total hip replacement. I then drove home that night around 11:00. Due to his high pain medication tolerance he was put in a step-down unit and I wasn’t allowed to stay. My right arm was very swollen by this time so I knew I had to lie down and relax. So I headed home. It takes approximately 3 hours and 45 minutes. I returned on Monday for his discharge and took him to his apartment and I returned home. I went back to work on Wednesday. Then after work today, I went grocery shopping for him, cleaned the wound and dressed it etc. Then I brought my tired self home. I AM EXHAUSTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BROKE!!!!!!!!!!!!! UPSET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT as always I will endure and be better for it. I’m not sure if her MRI to check the size of her brain tumor in May. I am uncertain if we will go to MUSC or be required to change to Duke; since we have moved to North Carolina. We may put this off until June or July. Please keep those prayers going that it will be stable. Danielle’s tumor was stable and we did keep her Neuro-Surgeon, Dr. Patel. We decided no matter what we couldn’t change!
I moved to my parents farm in a used 1994 double wide. It has been a mess. Something has quit working every monthe. The airconditiong has broken twice and we have had 3 hot water heaters. Please HELP! We need a new easy to maintain handicapped accessible home. I want Danielle to have a bathroom where the temperature of the water can be set and she can be independent.She loves to be able to do things for herself. Please give her the advantages she deserves!!! PLEASE
I am not asking for this makeover for me but for my wonderful family. Due to our terrible financial situation and my demanding job I work all the time. My family hardly gets to see me unless I am at my computer preparing a class for my students. I have a good paying job and am a very hard worker. People don’t understand the extensive expenses in having so many health complications and making bad financial decisions that I take responsibility for.

We require a single story home that is completely handicapped accessible. Danielle needs a handicapped bathroom adjoining her bedroom. I would love for her to have a very bright colored and lit room. She is legally blind but can make out forms and some light. I would like for her to be as independent as possible. She is truly an amazing young lady! She would require a room that is made for a short stature individual, since she stopped growing at the age of 2 and was started on growth hormones. She deserves so much and I just want to be able to give these things to her. She has suffered enough!

I wish we could have a new home that almost cleans itself. I work so much and I would like to spend the time I have with my family and not cleaning house. We love wood and tile floors but I just want what is easiest to take care and hard to detect when accidents occur. I hope you will take our family into consideration.

I also want to mention my 19 year old son. I call him my heart. I don’t know how I could go from day to day without him. He has had to sacrifice so much! I want him to have a normal life and that just isn’t in the cards for us. He deserves to be able to get that 4 x 4 he wants so desperately and plan on college.

Due to my poor credit I purchased a 1994 double wide mobile home. The water heater went out. The heat doesn’t work correctly. It is 15 degrees colder in my bedroom than the other end of the house. The air conditioner does not get cold. It freezes up. We have lost a lot of shingles and need a new roof. The house isn’t underpinned so we have large electric bills. I can’t afford the needed repairs.

Please help me give my family what they deserve! A nice energy efficient, easy to take care of and completely handicapped accessible home!!!!

Thanks for your consideration, Lynn

Frankie Lynn Long
197 Pine Level Church Road
Nakina, NC 28455
H# 910-642-3326
C# 843-997-6588 W #843-477-2181

Ty, I also wanted to tell you that Danielle loves your show. All she watches is CMT where Extreme Home Makeover comes on frequently. She loves Ty and the crew. She comes to me crying telling me about the families you help please help us. If you can’t can you send her a signed picture?
She loves yall!

Lynn Long and Danielle Grice
197 Pine Level Church Road
Nakina, NC 28455
910-642-3326