Friday, Oct. 29, 2004 | 9 a.m.
A mother battling cancer and her three adopted AIDS-afflicted daughters said goodbye Wednesday to their drafty, cramped, run-down North Las Vegas home knowing that when they return from vacation Thursday, it won't be there.
And the Broadbent family, which views life with hope and optimism despite their collective ailments, couldn't be happier that the 40-year-old 1,300 square-foot cinderblock home will be demolished.
That's because they were chosen out of thousands of hopefuls to be featured on the ABC reality show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which was nominated for an Emmy last season for its heart-wrenching stories of deserving and sometimes destitute families whose decaying or undersized homes were rebuilt and refurnished.
When the Broadbents return from Jamaica -- where ABC is sending the family while more than 150 construction workers rebuild their home -- they will find at their address in the 3100 block of the Webster Circle cul-de-sac a spacious, two-story, 3,200 square-foot home.
And, as with all episodes of the show which airs at 8 p.m. Sundays on Channel 13, the project will be completed in just seven days. The show's producers estimate that such projects generally would take four months to complete under normal construction procedures.
"Words cannot describe how I felt when Ty (Pennington, the show's host) came to our door this morning to tell us we were selected," said longtime Southern Nevada community activist Patricia Broadbent, known for her work with the care of AIDS-afflicted children.
"That someone thought we were deserving enough to be nominated and chosen is just overwhelming. We watch the show all the time and feel so happy for the people when they get their new homes, and now we are excited that we will be one of those families."
Daughter Shania Broadbent, 16, laughed when a Sun reporter asked if the family would miss their old house, noting, "Mom would say that we won't miss the cramped spaces and poor insulation."
Being on television, however, is nothing new to the family. Adopted daughter Hydeia Broadbent, 20, is a nationally known AIDS awareness advocate who got the immune system-destroying disease from her birth mother.
Hydeia has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey and Rosie O'Donnell talk shows and on the Women's Entertainment Network's "Cool Women." The Hydeia L. Broadbent Foundation was created in 1993 to educate the public about the HIV virus and city of Las Vegas declared Jan. 6, 1994, "Hydeia Loren Broadbent Day."
The family's other daughter is 12-year-old Patricia Broadbent.
Their adoptive single mom was diagnosed with lung cancer just recently, adding to the family's ever-increasing need for help. The Broadbents' situation has greatly moved one of the show's stars, Michael Moloney, who is in charge of interiors and glamour.
"Usually on our show one family member is ill, but here you have everyone having health issues," he said. "Our show is not about rebuilding the house. It is about the people who live in that house.
"We can't give these people their health back, but we can give them a quality of life with a home that has a crisp, contemporary, happy feeling to it. If we do it right, it will have a nice flow and a vibe to it. I'm excited about this (episode) because I believe it will be my favorite one yet."
The show airs in six to eight weeks.
Las Vegas builder KB Home is the general contractor for the Broadbent project. Two city of North Las Vegas inspectors will be on-site in 12-hour shifts over the next week to issue permits and OK the work. The inspectors, Rick Wilburg and Baldemar Gonzalez, say they have been impressed with plans that have been submitted during the past two weeks.
"While much of their work will be on the fly, the prep work and the quality of materials they intend to use are excellent," said Wilburg, the city's manager for the project.
So not to burden taxpayers, the inspectors' salaries will be paid by the show's producers, as will the salaries of extra North Las Vegas police needed to close off Webster Circle and reduce traffic to one lane on eastbound Cheyenne Avenue just east of Interstate 15, Wilburg said.
Milan Vasic, location manager for the show, said that while the work on the Broadbent home will be done so quickly, safety remains the primary issue.
"This is both a construction site and a production set," he said. "There are a number of safety and other concerns that we must address for both."
One of those issues is keeping the neighbors happy. To that end, the other half-dozen homes on the street will get free front-yard landscaping, and residents who do not want to deal with clanking hammers and buzzing saws at 3 a.m. during the 24-hour work days will be put up in hotels by the producers.
"I think this is a really cool thing," said the Broadbents' next-door neighbor Jose Luis Delgado, who has no intention of going anywhere while the home is being rebuilt. "I'm a carpenter, so I want to check out just how they can build this so fast. I might get a few pointers."
More than 60 volunteers in 1998 gave the sagging Broadbent home a face-lift as part of the local Christmas in April project that renovates about two dozen homes each year. For that project, the front-yard sprinkler system was replaced, a new roof was put on the home, ceilings were repaired and two showers and a 220-volt dryer outlet were installed. The cost was $2,500.
Vasic said it is the show's policy not to release how much it costs to rebuild the homes.
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" made a big splash its first season, garnering an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality Program. It touched heartstrings with episodes that included building a house for eight children who lost their parents and remodeling the home of a wheelchair-bound man.
Other stars of the show include carpentry experts Paul DiMeo and Paige Hemmis, stylist Tracy Hutson, building and planning specialist Constance Ramos and exterior designer Preston Sharp.
As the Broadbents, during a rainstorm, left their home Wednesday afternoon in a black stretch limousine bound for McCarran International Airport and their flight to the sunny Caribbean, Patricia Broadbent said, "You know, the one thing I will miss about the old house is the good memories.
"But I can't wait to make new memories in our new home."
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