Shelby boy and his family receive home makeover

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Beckett Fowler, a 3-year-old Shelby Township resident, was diagnosed with brain cancer March 22 and spent much of this year in another state receiving treatment. When he returned home last month, he found it transformed thanks to the work of a team of businesses and designers assembled by the Suite Dreams Project.

Beckett and his parents have been in Tennessee at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for the better part of the last six months, where Beckett underwent surgery to remove his tumor as well as 30 rounds of radiation and five rounds of chemotherapy. Beckett’s three siblings remained in Michigan during the treatment. Beckett now has returned home cancer-free but will need to return to St. Jude every three months for scans. His cancer, atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor, is rare and aggressive.

Back in August, the annual Gasoline Alley car show in Utica made supporting Beckett and his family a point of emphasis. Beckett’s dad is the family’s sole provider, and he had been unable to work due to the treatment schedule. The Utica Lions Club and USA Tire raised more than $30,000 to help the family.

The Suite Dreams Project also heard about Beckett’s journey and stepped up to do something special for him and his family.

The Suite Dreams Project, based in Rochester, has been creating dream bedrooms for chronically ill children throughout Michigan for the past 23 years. Sometimes when visiting a family home, the organization feels that the need is greater than just the child’s bedroom, and in the Fowler family’s situation, the organization felt like it could do more. It reached out to the Michigan Design Center in Troy and got 12 designers to volunteer their time and talents along with a contractor, a landscape company, carpet companies and installers, and many others to give the Fowler family a home makeover.

With a police and fire escort, Beckett and his parents returned home for the reveal Nov. 22.

Beckett loves monster trucks, so two local metal designers, Anthony Bielski and Andrew Georgine, got involved to make Beckett a custom monster truck bed.

The family’s oldest child, Aaron, did not have a bedroom and was sleeping in the basement. An egress window was installed in the basement, and All Pro Remodeling owner Matt DiMaggio erected a wall to create a bedroom for Aaron.

Tammie Fowler, Beckett’s mom, said the family is so grateful to the Suite Dreams Project.

“Never in our wildest dreams would we have thought Beckett and our family would go through something so horrible this year. It was the worst year of our lives, but we are so blessed at the same time. Beckett is now cancer-free and we got to come home to a brand-new home. Because of Suite Dreams, all of our worries were gone as soon as we walked in. The designers all knew exactly what I loved and put it into picture-perfect perfection. There were volunteers there day in and day out for months working … for free. Everyone that was a part of this was so incredibly selfless and I’m still in awe every time I walk into our home. I can stand in one room and still notice details I didn’t notice a week ago,” she said via email.

Sheri Daugherty, from the Suite Dreams Project, reportedly was in the house sometimes for 14-hour days working on her own too.

“My (ringtone) would go off at 2 a.m. and she was leaving after being there working all day. We never would have been able to do what they did after coming home from such a hard, stressful, overwhelming 9 months. Beckett’s room is perfect in so many ways. I’m still speechless every time I walk in. In the hospital, Beckett would sleep with me every night. I thought it was going to be so hard changing that when we got home. He got into his El Toro Loco monster truck bed, said, ‘I’m good Mommy. You can leave.’ I think it ended up being harder on me, but he fell asleep within minutes. Suite Dreams did that. He felt so comfortable and happy, he didn’t need us to go to sleep anymore. He is home,” she said.

“We thank God every day for what He has given us. A new home, strangers and friends coming together for good, St. Jude, and a cancer-free boy being able to come back home to his brother and sisters,” Tammie Fowler said.

MNP Corp. in Utica and the Wisne Foundation donated the funding to cover the new furniture in the home, and MNP employees volunteered to help paint the home and repair as well as assemble all the furniture.

All Pro Remodeling, Standard Drywall, D & M Companies, California Closets, Sherwin Williams of Washington Township, Alpine Carpeting, P.A. Moore Interiors, Beaver Tile and SiteScape Inc. all helped with the home makeover.

Ruth Casper, Aimee Sass and Patty Murray, of Ruth Casper Design, created Beckett’s room with Bielski and Georgine, of Decorative Metal Solutions, making the monster truck bed.

Haley Kiarash, of KIA Interior Design, handled the family room and the parents’ bedroom.

Stacy Moore and Lis Pusta, of Stacy Moore Designs, designed the living room, stairs and hallways.

Rita and Colleen O’Brien, of Rita O’Brien Interiors, designed the basement and Aaron’s new bedroom.

Anne Strickland and Ashlee Bates, of Anne Strickland Interiors, designed the rooms for Beckett’s two sisters.

Aparna Bonda, of Finished Spaces, designed the back deck.

Casper said they designed Beckett’s bedroom so that Beckett would feel like he was in a monster truck stadium.

“First, we designed the monster truck bed with Decorative Metal Solutions, Tony Bielski and Andrew Georgine. The bed was the focal point of the room that set the tone for all other accessories. We made a dresser look like a tool box. We added toy monster truck track to the wall, which was made and donated by TechConnext. The carpet has tire track pattern on it and was donated by Mohawk and McLeod Carpet One installed it,” Casper said in an email.

She said the highlight was collaborating with the other designers and seeing the family’s reaction to all their spaces.

“Suite Dream Project is our favorite charity to volunteer our services (with) and help change lives knowing kids have a safe and healing place to sleep,” she said.