11-year-old boy with leukemia surprised with dream room makeover
NORTHBROOK, Ill. (WLS) -- An 11-year-old Northbrook boy battling leukemia got the surprise of his life Friday thanks to a group of people who worked around the clock to put a smile on his face.
There were about 30 volunteers working on this project. They were all working to give a boy battling cancer the room of his dreams.
"He is thrilled. He couldn't even sleep last night so he is just really excited. His room is kind of his little safe haven," said his mother Susan Sorial.
Johnny Sorial left for school Friday morning counting down the time to see his new bedroom.
"I think it is extremely generous of Special Spaces and Normandy to do something like this," his father George Sorial said.
Special Spaces is a nonprofit organization that creates dream bedrooms for children battling life-threatening illnesses. Johnny was diagnosed with leukemia at age nine.
"He was acting tired, kind of stumbling around. We knew something was a little off so we went ahead and took him in and they found out that it was leukemia right away," Susan said.
A few months ago a team from Normandy Remodeling met with Johnny to figure out how to make his Star Wars dreams come to life.
"We took a few measurements and documented what the room is, went back to the office and a team of designers got together and said 'How can we make this Star Wars room?'" Normandy Remodeling Designer Ashley Noethe said.
The makeover began this morning under a tight deadline.
"The people that are here today are a mixture of architects, contractors, interior designers, office staff," said Troy Pavelka, Normandy Remodeling Director of Design. "He is dealing with treatments for what's going on in his life, this is going to make his space a lot more appealing."
"We will be done by 5 o'clock. Usually it is kind of pretty calm during the day and in the last hour, hour and half it is madness," Noethe said.
"When he got diagnosed it was hard to stay positive. But we had so many blessings around us, I think this is one of the blessings. It keeps us positive and feeling good," Susan said.
