Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's Michael Moloney on the Mattingly Family
This week Extreme is in Davis County, Kentucky to meet the Mattingly family — as well as Clint Black, our "Get On The Bus" celebrity volunteer.
Two years ago, Steve Mattingly was responding to a fire call at a neighborhood home, where he was asked to direct traffic around the site. Steve's wife Melissa was driving by the fire when disaster struck. Steve was hit full speed, by a car that didn't see him. An EMT herself, Melissa immediately got out of her car and ran to care for her husband. In the days following, Steven had suffered multiple injuries, brain damage and amnesia. To date, Steven has had seven surgeries to try to repair the damage. Thank God Melissa was there, she saved his life, she knew what to do. They both know what to do when they 're the first ones on the scene of an accident like that. He wasn't supposed to make it, but she made sure he did.
Because of this situation, the medical bills have gone out of control. They can barely afford to keep their heads above water and neither of them can work. They're living in a small 700 squarefoot trailer and Melissa is now the sole wage earner. They cannot afford to fix the home, which they also share with their growing daughters, Alana, 12, and Madison, 11. We need to get this community together and help these first-responders, who helped countless others in their time of need.
We're lucky this week to be building on two beautiful rolling hills — it's just a spectacular setting. What's not spectacular though, is actually trying to build on it. We have to move the dirt, bring in the gravel, and get this thing leveled. Good thing we have our builder Tommy Thompson and his son Nick of Thompson Homes, Inc., who are fantastic. The one word that comes to mind when I think of them is solid. They showed up, they had a mission, they got it done, and they did a fantastic job.
It's another big week for me. I'm taking care of the whole great room for the family, I'm taking care of Madison's room, AND I'm working with Xibit on Alana's room, and I'm babysitting five dogs, and a goat. You know, my clients run the gamut when it comes to design. I've pretty much done everything. Well this week I've got five very special little clients: they are four Pomeranians and a Jack Russell terrier. Each one of them has their own personality, and their own distinct loves, likes, and dislikes. I will be taking that and incorporating it into a room for each of them that will reflect their personalities and allow them to be themselves.
It seems when tragedies happen to families it does one of two things: It either drives them apart, or it really bonds them together. That 's exactly what 's happened with the Mattingly family; you can see that love. I think in this circumstance, it's actually bonded the community together as well. Sometimes, good things happen from bad things. That's what we saw this week.
