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As the result of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and the generosity of a whole lot of people, Jessica Gomez and her two children have a beautiful new home in South Jordan.
The house, which will be unveiled to television viewers on Sunday at 7 p.m. on ABC/Channel 4, is beautiful. But Gomez is even more thrilled that exposure on Sunday's episode of "Extreme Makeover" might give her 7-year-old son, Jonah, a chance to live. The family is seeking a bone-marrow donor for him.
"I'm just so excited for this opportunity," Gomez said. "Jonah gets a house that he can live in, and I get this opportunity to be able to tell the world this is a chance for everybody to help other people."
Jonah suffers from sickle hemoglobin D disease and pyruvate kinase deficiency. He has undergone open-heart surgery and is waiting for a bone-marrow donor.
In addition to showing viewers construction of the new home, Sunday's episode follows Jessica, Jonah and 5-year-old Ellie to the Rose Bowl, where they watched the Gold Cup final and the U.S. soccer team solicited bone marrow donors.
That same weekend, "Extreme Makeover" cameras were at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy for the Real Salt Lake game, where more than a thousand people became potential donors after filling out a form and having the inside of their cheek swabbed.
The TV exposure is expected to help other families who are affected by blood diseases and various forms of cancer. Only about 20 percent of children who need a bone-marrow transplant have a family member who's a match. "Eighty percent of us are waiting for somebody," Gomez said. "And, hopefully, as the story gets out on TV there we'll get more donors."
(For information about how to sign up as a bone-marrow donor, go to getswabbed.org.)
Sunday's episode features an amazing construction project that gave Jonah the clean environment he needs, but also some pretty cool extras.
"I don't think there's any words to express how grateful I am to each person who helped build this house," Gomez said.
Although a bone-marrow match for Jonah would be even better, of course.
"This has given us a ton of hope," Gomez said. "This is the greatest thing that could have happened to us."
We live in a cynical world, and it's easy to be cynical about television. But "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" has done a great thing for the Gomez family, and an even better thing for all the people who stand to get desperately need bone-marrow transplants.
If this episode doesn't bring a tear to your eye, nothing will.
Scott D. Pierce's column appears Mondays and Fridays in The Mix. Email him at spierce@ sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce; read his blog at sltrib.com/blogs.tv.