Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Central Illinois
- When Central Illinois sets out to do something, we always do it right! Our deepest congratulations go out to the Grys family. Our deepest gratitude goes out to the thousands of people that spent countless hours to make the dream come true. Click on any of the images to see it at larger size. Right click and save as to download it to your computer! If you have photos that you would like to share of the Central Illinois build, please email them to downloads@calahansolutions.com
Meet the Grys Family!
The Grys' journey began over a year ago when the family started a petition to get their son Jake help. The petition appeal read:
Jacob Grys is a miracle! He was not expected to live after birth. But live he did. He is a tiny child that is full of life. Jake was born with dwarfism caused by osteogenesis imperfecta.
Yes, he has brittle bones. Yes, he breaks his bones every month. But his difficulties are mainly caused by his dwarfism. He depends upon his family for everything. Though he has above average intelligence and bursting personality, he can not get a drink, go to the bathroom, shower, turn on a light, and worst of all, he can not open a door so if the house would catch on fire he can not escape. His family (adoptive parents and 6 siblings) have always thought they would just care for him forever, but...When the therapist at Easter Seals came to their house to nominate them for Extreme Makeover Home Edition, she showed them that he could be independent with the correct changes and additions to their home.
So they have discovered it is a disservice to Jake to make him depend on them. He needs to be able to care for himself. His family is now consumed with finding a way to make him INDEPENDENT!! You can help.Jake Grys was adopted by the Grys family after they had spent 25 years as foster parents and had fostered over 250 children. The family has 7 children and Jake is the youngest. He has so many challenges, the most extreme being his tiny size. Jake is 8 years old and the size of an 18 month old.
Jake has dwarfism caused by brittle bones. He needs Extreme Makeover Home Edition to customize his home so he can do simple tasks such as turn on lights, go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, and escape a fire. Other challenges are getting in and out of bed, showering, combing his hair, reaching toys and clothes. Basically everything we take for granted, Jake can not do without help.
Jake needs your help to declare his independence!!!! Please find it in your heart to help him!
Grys family, we could not have said it better! You can see all of their YouTube videos here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vHTFsplKcA
You can also see some videos on Jake and the family here:
http://www2.pjstar.com/index.php?/multimedia/soundslide/brittle_but_not_broken
http://www2.pjstar.com/index.php?/multimedia/video/meet_jake_grys/
So How Do You Say the Family's Name??
We have had a number of people comment through this site, email and calls asking us how to pronounce the family's name. Bill Grys (Steve's brother) helped us out with this tutorial:
It is like "Cries" "Jake cries when he falls down and breaks another bone." only with a "G" at the begining.
Posted on October 27, 2008 at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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