Millions of people tuning into the hit TV show, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" on May 2 will view the house that love built for a recently widowed Catholic mother of nine children.

At the foundation of this Mother's Day-theme show is a larger story about the enduring power of sacrificial love: love freely given to spouses, children, family, friends, neighbors, parishioners, acquaintances and, even, strangers.

The story began 22 years ago when Greg and Martha Walswick, two Catholics from Orange County, married and started a family. Greg was a carpet layer who eventually joined the Ironworkers union. Martha was a stay-at-home mom to their growing family of four boys and five girls. They bought a home in Yorba Linda and promptly took out the white carpets for a more kid-forgiving floor covering.

"We didn't have a lot of money, but we were happy," said Martha, 46. "I thought God had a sense of humor giving us nine kids. Greg was very supportive to help with anything --- he was a 'hands-on' dad and helped with cleaning and cooking."

The children attended St. Joseph Elementary School in Placentia where Martha grew up. Life was full and hectic with school sports, which Greg helped coach, and extended family get-togethers that included Martha's 12 brothers and sisters, lots of nieces and nephews, two priest uncles and a priest cousin.

Then, in July 2000, one year after the Walswicks' last child, Catherine, was born, Greg was in a major car accident, totaling his truck. His injuries were minor, but x-rays revealed that Greg had close to 20 brain tumors. He had been having headaches, but thought it was just due to the rigors of outdoor construction work. Greg underwent chemotherapy and kept busy with small construction projects and coaching the kids' basketball, softball and volleyball teams at St. Joseph.

"He never said, 'Why me?'" said Martha. "His strength in accepting his illness was really something. We prayed a lot." In the spring of 2001, the Knights of Malta took Greg and Martha to Lourdes, which was "a beautiful experience" according to Martha. The trip was short, however, because they both got "kid-sick."

A relative saw a TV show about a clinic in Houston, run by a Catholic Polish doctor specializing in the treatment of brain tumors, and, due to the donation of a friend's frequent flyer miles, Greg and Martha were able to visit the center. It was there they met a Chula Vista couple -- J.J. Carrell, 35, and his wife, Kelley, 27, who was receiving treatment for aggressive brain cancer.

The two couples struck up a friendship and kept in touch after returning to California. Kelley wanted to start a foundation to help cancer victim survivors. After Greg's death on July 15, 2003, J.J. and Kelley attended Greg's two-hour funeral attended by 1,200 people at St. Joseph's. Less than two months later, on August 13, Kelley converted to Catholicism. When asked by her Catholic mother-in-law why she "got off the fence" and became a Catholic, Kelley responded: "It's because of Greg and Martha."

One night, shortly before Kelley's death in November, she sensed Greg's presence in her room while she was wearing the Lourdes medals that Martha had given her after Greg died. When J.J. called Martha to tell her about this, Martha said she had asked Greg in her prayers the night before to comfort Kelley. Hearing that, J.J. reflected: "Our spouses are going to be together in heaven."

Last wishes

To honor his wife's dying request to help cancer victim survivors, beginning with Martha's family, J.J. started to draw up plans with his general contractor father-in-law to remodel the Walswick kitchen, a longtime dream of Greg's.

"I thought it was something that J.J. wanted to do things for somebody else," said Martha.

As J.J.'s family discussed the pending remodel, a relative caught the December 2003 debut ABC television reality show of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The home remodel was for the family of a child battling leukemia. J.J. decided to submit the Walswick home for consideration and filled out the necessary paperwork.

By the end of February 2004, the Walswicks found out that they were one of five families under consideration. They were told to be packed and ready Saturday morning, March 20 in case they were the makeover "winners." A few hundred family members and friends assembled for a dawn prayer service at the house that day and were present as the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" bus of designers and builders rolled down the street.

According to Martha, the show's production team had never been greeted by so many people before. Martha's house on Santa Fe Street was the focal point of the neighborhood, day and night, for the next seven days. Martha and the kids spent the week in Palm Springs, courtesy of ABC, as they waited for the seventh day "reveal."

Project 'passion'

Supervising nearly 100 workers to complete a remodeling in seven days that would normally take six months, general contractor, L&R Construction, Inc. had been selected only two weeks earlier as the project's remodeler because of deft "pitch-hitting" on another "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" show.

Larry and Ralph Cimmarusti, L&R Construction owners and St. Bede Church (La Canada) parishioners, had completed the renovation of Holy Redeemer Church in Montrose just days before. According to Larry, it was "ironic" how their company with so many Catholic employees was chosen to remodel the home of "such a devout Catholic family."

When the L&R Construction staff heard that they would be renovating the home of a recently widowed mother of nine children, they became totally committed to the project. "There was so much passion involved," said Larry. Once the full-time construction crew arrived onsite, they didn't leave the area for seven days, working around the clock and sleeping in a nearby hotel.

Over 4,000 people were on hand to welcome the Walswicks back to their house, which had been transformed from a four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath ranch-style abode to a five-bedroom, four bath custom decorated house incorporating personal pictures and cherished keepsakes, such as Greg's rocking chair. Martha particularly favors her new kitchen with its hand-painted wall prayer: "Fill me with your Spirit, Lord, and surround me with your grace."

"I love my kitchen, and I like the way the designers respected me and my beliefs," said Martha. To see first-hand how the show's designers incorporated the Walswicks' Catholic faith into the décor of their home, tune in to ABC channel 7 at 8 p.m. this Sunday, May 2.