Dolan Family

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Dolan Family
Recap by J.G. Bird
May 1, 2005
In St. Petersburg, Florida, the Dolan family story is tinged with tragedy: James Dolan a hard-working man, having recently taken a second job at an electronics store, is one victim of a mysterious shooting. Sadly, two others shot at died, and the gunman shot and killed himself as well. Jaime survived but is now permanently blind. Jamie explains his difficulties navigating his home, now that he’s home from months of b being in the hospital. He looks to the best side of things however: He feels fortunate having his kids, his wife, and his life.

Crissy, his wife, Haley, 6, Charles, 12, and JT, 3 all express in the application video their joy in still having this husband and father. Crissy’s brother Phil and a sister-in-law to-be, Lauren, have nearly moved into the Dolan house just to bring some needed assistance.

When the family steps out of the house, astonishment and caution give way to some strongly emotional moments. Crissy gives Ty a big long hug; it’s very overwhelming for her during this opening sequence. Quickly, they invite her brother and his fiancé over. Ty is quick to reveal they will all be going to a resort in Puerto Rico.

The only real functional problem with the Dolan house is that it is small and therefore hard to navigate. Anyone with more than one kid will surely understand – you could clean every hour and never keep everything manageable. Jamie mentions in particular,
kitchen hazards – he’s hit his head on the freezer door/handle, encountered things cooking on the stove, for example. Constance just notes there’s lots of stuff – toys and laundry. Crissy says, that kind of picking up has essentially lost priority. She’s at Jamie’s right hand, guiding him throughout the show. She is the main support for now – for all of them.

Ty sits alone with individual members of the family, spending a little time with each. The revealing but simple truth is this, and Ty speaks plainly with Crissy: He goes to work one day and this happens – no one can be prepared for it. From Jamie’s perspective, he relates that’s it’s been hardest to adjust to having to be guided by everyone. Ty acknowledges that Crissy is holding this family together. Over and over we get to hear how her friendship, and her love of Jamie are vitally important.

If it’s because of the two-hour stretch this episode has, I support the producers spending this much time examining the family members individually (and revealing that time to the viewers). They’ve been stepping away from that connection lately, and it’s been sorely noticeable. My plea: Talk to all the family members – I like hearing it from them.

Next the team sends the family off with the assurance that they’ll be making a home that’s workable for someone who’s lost his sight. Uncluttered areas, technology that is voice-activated are some of the ideas that come from the brainstorming session as the team plans the layout with Constance. Eric Brun-Sanglard, a blind man who designs spaces to allow independence for other blind people is brought in to consult on the plans. He suggests reaching out to the other senses. He endorses a query about installing a golfing green to get Jamie and his son, Charles back to golf practice. Ty takes Phil and Lauren’s room as his Secret Room. He’ll build them the “bed they haven’t had yet,” he says, in acknowledgement that their stays to date have relegated them to a sofa bed.

We are shown a shot of Jamie at a driving range at the resort. Demolition is spiced up when Paul and Ty utilize the local ABC affiliate’s sportscaster to provide voice play-by play for the videocast to the Dolan family. This sportscaster, Al, terms it a “classic matchup,” “monster vs. machine.” The machine chews through the 2x4s, cinderblocks, glass and Ty and Al let all the sound come across for Jamie in addition to their descriptions of what all is coming down, bite-by-bite of the excavator.

Lexington Homes' contractor Craig Gallagher gives the pep talk to the volunteer crew throng, admitting, the project was daunting, and they weren’t sure they should take it on. The story of the family, however, resolved Lexington Homes to do it and to do their best. Some salvage is noted by Constance, Paul and Preston – picking out fireplace rocks and terrazzo floor for reuse. This becomes a note of interest later, when Jamie relates the memory of his dad picking out those fireplace facing stones. It’s kind of amazing that was what was saved.

7am morning of Day 3, there’s second story framing taking place. Paul notes how ahead of schedule they are: way-ahead. Preston demonstrates a device, a color reader while he’s shopping for clothes at Sears. It will be something Jamie can use picking clothes from his closet. Framers will be done by noon. Craig with Lexington Homes is noted as “intense” He seems pretty handy with his red megaphone. He’s wowed by his crews and spurs them on to make this the quickest build. Another quick shift in the action of the segment and we are shown Paul broadening his understanding of blindness by hanging out with some visitors from the school for the blind where Jamie has had some of his rehabilitation. Alex, an 11 year-old walks Paul around. Paul feels cured of an initial ignorance and pity-base for blind people after this interaction.

Some showing off of the height of the building reveals a benefit; volume will help reduce the effect of Florida mugginess. In the unfinished kids’ rooms, talk about some of the features going in includes installing an eight-foot robotic arm. Walt and Joan a blind couple that are members of the U.S. Blind Golfers Association show how a sighted person could guide the blind golfer to line up shots. It’s great to watch: these blind golfers are being assisted and watched by Eduardo and Paul. Paul is cheering seeing these folks are quite capable at driving and putting the golf balls.

Constance examines the giant “magic number puzzle-style” wall item Paul is building for Haley’s room. He asks her to paint a fairy princess on it.

Paul grabs Preston to visit Eastlake High to check the robotics lab that gets the gold medal in annual “Robotics Olympics.” They admit they mostly learned that they knew nothing about robotics.

Sunday, November 20th, 2004 is a day still remembered by locals. The tragic shooting that took place is revisited by Paul, poring over the newspaper article from that day. Eduardo talks about water features and wind chimes. Ty, as a joke, calls and asks to speak with JT. He gives the little guy lots of details about the new house, but about the most he can relate to the family by the end of Ty’s conversation is: “They painted it blue….”

Ty makes his signature megaphone runaround to announce that there’s still another hour of show.

In our second hour, textures on the walls are a topic that the designers continue describing. Ty takes a moment to lock himself and a loyal band of assistants into the Secret Room. Meeting the other victims (Joanna Cruz, a 20 year-old employee at the store, and Kenneth Murphy, a father of 2 young sons) families becomes important, as a major sponsor, Wachovia Bank, provides a $25,000 lump sum of cash to each family of the shooter’s other two victims. Then the show is back to its frenetic pace, to show us Plant wrangling. If Ty’s harassing Eduardo about getting plants in the ground quicker is annoying enough, Ty finds a way to cause double trouble. Craig Gallagher the Lexington Homes lead teams up with Ty at 36 hrs to go – truly double-teaming the poor volunteers with a double volley of megaphone mania. Eduardo is one of the poor souls attacked while dutifully outside doing the landscaping the night of Day 5. Sigh.

Day six; everything’s almost finished. A few important additions: a 4 ft wide carpet runner to help Jaime navigate the hallways of the house is being installed. Ty demonstrates the voice-activated computer controls. He gets a sour response out of the computer on one of the requests - “Sorry, Ty I don’t do drywall.” Eduardo and Constance spend a whole portion of this segment trying to get sounds out of zoo animals. Only with the chimps do they get some good response. Some is mimicked by the designers ultimately. The kids extreme rooms will be good places for Jaime to spend time with his kids Finishing touches on individual rooms will be key: It’s pointed out there are push button sound boxes for the zoo animals.

Afternoon of day six, Ty discovers an empty but complete house; Ty checks with Craig, who tosses him the keys. Ty leads the shouting for the furniture move-in. Ty teases Paul for only carrying in pillows. Paul rightfully shoots back with some pillows. Then we spend a moment with the woman that called in to 911 at the shooting. After watching him get shot right in front of her, this woman prayed for the man helping her behind the counter. This was Jamie. Ty has her call up Jamie after giving her a quick tour of the house. The Dolan’s are greatly appreciative of the part this woman played in saving his life. Eduardo, dissatisfied with the state of the already laid sod, gets a truck of sod rushed through an hour to reveal.

Day 7 there’s close-in shots of the detailing going into the kid rooms: particularly Haley and JT’s. Phil and Lauren’s bedroom is mentioned, but Ty does not explain further – he’s trying to maintain the integrity of the secret. Paul and Preston show details of robot arms now installed in Charles’ room. Ty notes Jamie sends a bouquet of yellow roses to be placed in his and Chrissy’s new bedroom for the day they return.

Ty instructs the spectators: He’ll let them go wild from the time the Dolan’s step out of the limo to the cue of “Move That Bus,” but then he will signal them to go silent so Chrissy can describe what the house looks like and Jaime can hear her. Everyone is excited, really overwhelmed. Haley is crying and so is her mother. The happiness is in her voice, however, as she describes the front door entry, framed by columns and the special windows. Ty adds that it’s really big and beautiful. Chrissy smiles and says, “Did I forget big?, ‘It’s really big!’” The designers meet up with the family and further explanation is made about the water features and wind chimes, the solid concrete path, and how all will help Jaime navigate outside his own home.

Additionally, inside, the family notes that there are different textures on the walls from room to room. The carpet is easy to navigate. Jaime asked the design team to make his kids happy, and Preston smiles and says we made crazy kid rooms. Haley’s room is a deep shade of pink on the walls, accented by humongous puzzle pieces on the ceiling and walls. A cool 3-piece puzzle pillow with Haley’s name lies at the head of the bed. JT, of course, went nuts in the zoo room. A soft sculpted lion accents one wall, “free-roaming” stuffed animal tigers and a few arching overhead giraffes are joined by numerous monkeys hanging from the 3-D cutout jungle trees.

University of South Florida provides a full college scholarship to the School of Engineering for the robotics interest of the Dolan’s 12 year old son. Charles is a young, freckle-faced boy but he has such heart and conviction for asserting that he wants to build cybernetic eyes to one-day provide his father with sight again. Not only his parents, but he, also, is teary. Even though he’s only 12, he recognizes the impact this gift from the University could have.

Ty demonstrates how the computer will assist Jaime with the microwave, using the phone, turning on the lights, the fireplace or controlling the thermostat. Next, outside, we see a play structure for the kids, a BBQ grill, and a small, but well-defined putting green. Lexi, a black Labrador puppy that will be trained to be Jamie’s guide dog is put into Jamie’s hands, a gift from Lexington homes. Lexington Homes and their partners also provide the Dolan’s with a hundred-thousand dollar check with a mind to their old mortgage and the increased costs of running the new home.

“From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you,” Jamie Dolan states. It’s the end to an incredible two-hour episode. Yet, amazingly, there will be another hour on Monday night for How’d They Do That? Ty will undoubtedly get a long segment to detail his work on Philip and Lauren’s room. It was barely a footnote in tonight’s episode.