A wish comes true in Allyn
Local electrician joins star designer, foundation to help young boy

 

 By Danna Webster, KP News

Make-a-Wish and Style Network stars from the “Clean House” show teamed up to help an Allyn family the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day. Both agencies had high praise and sincere gratitude for Key Center’s Birch Electric Co. for coming to the project’s rescue.

Last July, 4-year-old Jayden Anderson was diagnosed with Myoclonic-astatic epilepsy (Doose epilepsy). According to his mother, Jennifer Anderson, on bad days he may experience between 20 and 30 seizures and on a good day, 10 to 15. They range from head nodding, knee bending, drop attacks or body jerks followed by loss of muscle tone and lapse of consciousness.

Jayden wears a protective helmet to protect his head from injury during the drop seizure. All of the furnishings in the family living room were capable of inflicting severe injury during a seizure incident. His parents wished for a safe room, a place where Jayden could watch his shows and play without being in constant danger. They wrote for help to Make-a-Wish and to Mark Brunetz, the star of their favorite television show. As the Disney song says, when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true — it certainly did for the Andersons.

Doose epilepsy is often diagnosed in early childhood and usually strikes boys. It is a type of epilepsy that his grandmother, Linda Swan, says is ravaging.

“Life has been a freight train with Jayden’s medical appointments and hospital stays,” Anderson says. “The three days before Christmas were seizure-free, but that was the lull before the storm.

The seizure medicine he takes was causing him to starve to death. That’s how we rang in the New Year: in post-op in the hospital.”

The operation implanted a gastric feeding tube. “They put a gastro feeding tube into his tummy,” Swan says. “It will be at least another year with that. Liquid feeding saved his life. It was torture to get his meds into him. We had to force him to take them by mouth and then go in the other room and cry.”

Jayden’s first symptom was a headjerking motion observed by his grandmother and mother, and it sent them rushing to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. A neurological exam confirmed epilepsy. Jayden had his first grand mal seizure in the doctor’s waiting room.

“He has a lot of Doose kinds of seizers drop seizures,” Swan says. “It’s like going unconscious a couple seconds. He wears a helmet to protect his head but it doesn’t cover everything… his poor nose.”

Because of the drop seizures, normal household furnishings became hazardous materials in Jayden’s daily life. In November, his mother contacted the Make-a-Wish foundation for help. She wished for a safe room in her home for Jayden. When she was notified they qualified for help, she emailed Brunetz, her favorite television interior designer. She asked Brunetz if he would help plan the room.

He responded immediately: He would come to Allyn and make the family living room a safe place for Jayden. In less than four months, Brunetz and his art director on “Clean House,” Donna Marie, flew in from Los Angeles, ready to go to work.

Meanwhile, Jessie Elenbaas, Make-a-Wish wish coordinator, and wish-granting volunteers Jessica Beem and Gretchen Hubbard had arranged for volunteers and received donations for the project.

All was going well right up to a week and a half before the start day. That’s when the arrangements for both the electrician and the handyman volunteers fell through. Beem was visiting family in Lakebay when this predicament hit. She stopped in at KC Computers for service and told the story to Sheryl Mirenta.

“Sheryl told me Birch Electric was right next door in the library and I should walk over there,” Beem says.

The good people at Birch Electric said they would do the job. She got a similar response from Aron and Natalie Moreau of On the Spot Handyman Services in Shelton. In fact, the list is long on volunteers from neighboring businesses near the Allyn community.

Birch Electric owners Kevin and Miranda Canavan went to work, getting participation from their suppliers. They assigned foreman Ken Liberty, from Gig Harbor, and Josh Dulaney and Ryan Pritchard, both from the Key Peninsula, to the task.

“Basically, the little boy has health issue seizures,” Kevin Canavan explained during the makeover process. “We are elevating everything used in that room — raise the TV wiring receptacles, mount the new TV, and install seven new wall sconces so the room is lit well. Right now they have lamps and they don’t want him to grab a lamp when he falls. That’s a house fire danger.”

This is the first time that Make-a-Wish has worked together with a celebrity to grant a wish. And it is the first time for this star, Mark Brunetz, to do a completely charitable makeover. As a celebrity home designer, he has participated in many charitable events

and made lots of personal donations but Jayden’s room was a project where his heart worked together with all his talents and skills. Brunetz told the KP News his home design projects for television “rarely make such a big difference.” “This is something special,” he says.

“Jayden’s family are big fans of the show. Jennifer (Jayden’s mother) sent an email… in November. We called vendors, mapped it out where people could be involved, and connected the dots to make a better room. We wanted it to be a collaboration with Make-A-Wish.”

Brunetz met Jayden for the first time on Friday morning, March 14, before he drove to Allyn. He told him he was going to give him a new room.

“He loves the movie ‘Cars,’” says Brunetz. “I ordered from Disney a poster of the movie and had it framed out. We’re creating an area for him — and another relative to the family — so he feels he has own space.” He says he could visualize how the room would look before he left LA and lists some of the changes to the room: upholstered walls, two small soft chairs (one Jayden’s size and one to grow into or share with a friend), a sofa without detachable pillows so the frame is always covered, installation of wall lighting and a plasma television with components above Jayden’s height.

Brunetz used his designer skills to determine colors and styles that would make the family happy and comfortable. “I did a homeowner interview. I asked questions that clue style and color pallets,” he says. “If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?” and “If you were reincarnated as a piece of furniture, what would it be?” were two of the questions.

Brunetz, originally from Cleveland, loves visiting Seattle and the Northwest. It reminds him of his boyhood excursions to Wisconsin and Canada on hunting and fishing trips. He said Jayden’s living room makeover was a welcome break from his show’s heavy production schedule. All the work, plans and schedules for the room fit together. “It was a giant effort with Make-a-Wish,” he says. “You know you are doing something right” when everything works together so well.

“I’m very attuned to this kind of thing,” he says about the phenomenal outpouring of community help and the magic of everything working out. “It’s a continual blessing of what I do,” he says.

The electricians’ drills sounded just after noon on Friday and about the same hour on Sunday, Jayden and his parents, Jennifer and Richard, drove up to their home for “The Reveal.” Jennifer carried Jayden in her arms while she and Richard were led blindfolded to the new living room. Jayden closed his eyes.

Cameras flashed, catching the surprise of the little family when they saw the cornflower blue room filled with soft furniture and warm lighting, complete with a soft sculptured car and a Jayden-sized Mickey Mouse. Jayden headed for a collection of new car toys and asked his grandmother to help remove the packaging. He left the room to get his 13-year-old cousin and favorite companion, Shawn Berry. He brought Shawn to the new room to share the fun. Every aunt, uncle and cousin joined Jayden and his parents and grandparents to celebrate with cake and pizza. Jayden’s eyes lit up when he was handed a sparkling silver wand from the Make-a-Wish people. He gave it a wave and laid it aside to try the pizza. His wish had been granted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make-A-Wish Foundation®
For more information about the foundation, call (800) 304-WISH or visit
www.northwestwishes.org.

For more information about Mark Brunetz, www.MarkBrunetz.com.

     

 

BACK TO TOP