I love watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on UKTV Style.  If you’re not familiar with the premise of the programme, the idea is that this design team funded by ABC TV studios, are sent applications from families all over the USA.  These are families living in extreme poverty, or in desperate situations or something similar.  The design team go and tear down their house and build them a brand new one that’s got plenty of room and healthy etc.  I watched an episode last night who had a family with 3 children.

Two boys aged 14 and 12, and an 8 year old girl called Boey.  Boey had cancer, and was in remission when they sent the application to ABC.  Their house was in incredibly bad disrepair, and was not a healthy environment for Boey.  ABC picked their family to remake their home, but 2 months before they arrived with the family Boey relapsed and had to start chemotherapy again.  In heart-wrenching interviews, Boey and her parents confessed how when she got the news she just begged and screamed to die, she was desperate not to go through with it again and to have to “survive”.

She was such a special little girl though.  In the hospital she would take her pocket money and buy soft toys for the other children to give to them as presents because she knew how horrible it was and how important it was to make them smile.  When they were shown their brand new home (which was beautiful) the little girl sobbed she was so happy.  Her brand new room was exactly how she wanted it – like a shop so she could play dress up and have mannequins to dress and put her wigs on.

The saddest part was that at the end of the show a message was displayed:

On the 28th of December, 2007

Boey lost her fight with cancer.

This show is dedicated to her

memory.

I cried when I saw that.  That’s a reaction some people may laugh at, but this little girl was so inspirational.  She was just desperate be free of cancer, and for people to find a cure.  She gave all she had to make other children happy.  She was only 8 years old, but in some ways probably far more mature than me.  She lost her childhood to a horrible disease, and eventually, her life.  That little girl inspired me to do better and to be a better person, and so for that reason, this post is dedicated to her too.