This holiday season will be a very special one for Ali Dix, a 13-year old heart transplant patient, as Building a Difference debuts on TBN an incredible documentary of how she received a new heart – and a new home – just in time for Christmas.
“Ali is a sweet, precious little soul,” said Chris Simons, host of Building a Difference and Builders Care project manager. “However, she has been struggling with serious heart problems since the day she was born and spent most of her life in hospitals.”
Ali’s parents put her on a heart donor list and had been patiently waiting for years. “If she didn’t have a donor soon, the doctors said that she was going to die,” her mother Joi explained.
“But that’s when the miracle happened. The doctors found a donor, and she finally received the gift that she had been praying for…a new heart,” as Chris excitedly says on the show.
But Ali and her parents had a new problem. An extremely life threatening mold situation brought on by severe roof leaks prevented Ali from returning home after her heart transplant. Travis, Ali’s father, tried to make the repairs himself, but as he explained, “It was impossible. I was like losing was an uphill battle. It was heartbreaking that we had no home to bring Ali back to.”
Already burdened by crushing hospital bills, the Dix family had nowhere to turn until the day they met Northeast Florida Builders Care.
Builders Care immediately felt compassion toward this family when they heard about their serious mold problem, so they partnered with Woodside Homes to come up with a solution.
“When we heard about this special little girl, how could we not help her,” explained Howard White, former Woodside Homes Division President. “When I met her for the first time, her eyes looked up at me and spoke all the words they needed to speak,” adds Glenn Layton, Woodside Homes Division President. “I knew right thenthat I wanted to do everything we could to bring this little girl home for Christmas.”
Builders Care and Woodside Homes rallied up their volunteers, strapped on their tools, and put on their Santa hats. In a very endearing TV scene, the “big burly builders” even humbled themselves to made Christmas ornaments for Ali. In just 5 days they not only rid the Dix Family’s house of all life-threatening mold, but also completely remodeled their home and packed it full of surprises for the entire family.
“This is truly a heart-warming story that will bless and inspire everyone who watches this documentary,” says Mick Richards of DeepLight Entertainment and Producer/Director of Building a Difference. “I really hope everyone is able to make some time this holiday season to watch how the volunteers of Builders Care and Woodside Homes give little Ali a Christmas gift she will never forget!”
The Dix Family: Part One will debut Tuesday, December 1st at 12 noon EST (9 a.m. PT), and The Dix Family: Part Two will air the following week on December 8th and again December 29 & 31.
