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By APRIL MIDDLETON

Salina Journal

CHAPMAN -- One moment the future of the Tutwiler family was uncertain.

The next, Ty Pennington, the host of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," was outside the family's temporary home, screaming.

"It was unreal, like it wasn't really happening," Crystal Tutwiler said. "We ran outside and it was just an overwhelming amount of emotion."

Up until that moment, life had been hard for the family of seven. The family's Chapman home was among many destroyed in a June 11 tornado. Since then, family members have been living in military housing at Fort Riley. But within a matter of months, they would have been forced to leave.

Spc. Patrick Tutwiler, who was shot in the neck by a sniper in Baghdad about a year before the tornado struck, will be medically discharged from the Army within 90 days.

Patrick returned from Iraq with a brain injury, post traumatic stress disorder, memory loss and speech problems. Because of his injury and part-time employment, the family hasn't been able to afford to rebuild or buy a new home.

"We really had lots of anxiety and not knowing where we would go, what we would do and how we would survive," Patrick said.

Then came the knock at the door Tuesday -- Veterans Day.

Ed Sanders, one of the designers for the show, said the family was calmer than many others have been in the same situation.

When family members learned they had been selected by the television show to receive a new home, it was obvious they were excited, but the overwhelming emotion seemed to be relief, Sanders said.

"It was more like someone had released a pressure valve," Sanders said. "It was like, 'Thank God you are here.'"

The "Extreme Makeover" team is expected to begin construction Thursday on a two-story home for the family. The family will go on vacation to the Bahamas while contractors and volunteers build the home at the corner of Sixth and Broadway streets in Chapman.

A coalition of builders, subcontractors and volunteers from throughout the area will do the actual work.

In addition to the house for the Tutwiler family, the team will build a new community center and remodel the park behind the tennis courts in Chapman. The park served as a meeting site for the public following the June 11 tornado.

Sanders said when the show visits places like Chapman that have been devastated by a disaster it reminds people that everything isn't back to normal.

Disasters are "news when it happens, but news becomes old very quickly," Sanders said.

"This show isn't about all the hoo-ha, it's about the people," he said. "We show people what it is like to deal with a situation like these families are living through."

After the team surprised the family at Fort Riley, the activity moved to Chapman.

Cast and crew from the show bustled around the vacant lot that once was the family's home. Several times they had to hush a large, excited crowd, so they could shoot footage that will be used for the show.

The design team spent much of the day talking to the family members about what they might like to see in their new home.

"I'm not really picky right now. I just want a house," Crystal said.

When pressed, 9-year-old Jacob said he wants four-wheelers and the like in his new room. Really, though, he's just happy he'll have a home and his family is together, he said.

"I'm really happy we got a house and all my dad has been through and stuff ... just thank you," a tearful Jacob said.

Jacob is the oldest of the Tutwiler children. Hayley is 6, Alyssa is 1 and Gabriel is 5 months. The Tutwilers' nephew, Jesus Martin, 15, also lives with the family.

The entire family rode out the tornado in a closet in their home. When it was over, family members ran -- barefoot and in pajamas with only a bottle and a pacifier -- to their neighbor's home.

"I remember everything down to the noise," Crystal said. "Every time we hear a train, we think of it."

Since relocating to Fort Riley, the family has been trying to get back to Chapman. The Tutwiler children still attend school in Chapman.

"Before we knew we were nominated (for Extreme Makeover), we applied for three loans to rebuild and get back, but we didn't meet the income guidelines," Crystal said. "This is a dream come true to know that we can come home."

But the family never expected anything, Patrick said.

"I enlisted in the Army. I knew the risk. She (Crystal) had cancer. Many people had cancer," Patrick said. "We just thought we had bad luck. We never expected anything out of it."

nReporter April Middleton can be reached at 822-1409 or by e-mail at amiddleton@salina.com.

Join the Discussion:

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Skeptic says....
Extreme Makeover could do much more good by building several modestly priced home for deserving Chapman residents rather than their typical McMansion for one family. I'm sure there are other families in Chapman more deserving of a decent home. Why all the hoopla over a Iraqui war vet?
11/13/2008

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WhatsUp says....
Sad to say there's more Christian charity for American families in one of these Extreme Makeover shows than in one dozen televangelist programs that rake in millions of dollars so they can fly their own private jets.
11/12/2008

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IceMan says....
I think the Extreme Makeover Team made a good choice and the fact that they will remodel the park and build a new community center adds icing to the cake.
11/12/2008

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