Minnesota Family Opens There Home To 3 Children/ABC Extreme Make Over HOme Edition

8/23 Heidi had her checkup on Monday and Tuesday at the may clinic and they scheduled her for surgery wed of this week her cancer is back.

8/13 Erik and Heidi are in the process of adding 3 more children to the family. The lord has nocked on there door and they have opened there home to 3 kids of the family to give them a safe home while there parents health gets better.

8?2/2007 Our thoughts and many many prayers go out to families of 35 W Minnesota Bridge. We are praying for everyone of those people and family and friends and also the rescue workers hard at work.

7/28 Martin has been in the Hospital now for about 4 days at the U of M he has been vomiting and severe headaches. Erik,Heidi, Kelly and Kattie where for the day today and they did a spinal tap today which was finally successful as they tried twice yesterday and he was tuck over 15 times and it was unsuccessful. They are checking the fluid to see what is causing his headaches, they will also be doing an MRI tomorrow on him. He refuses to eat as he is so sick. Pray for him. His spirits are good. He seemed to really enjoy seeing Erik today. We will keep you updated. Heidi is also scheduled to head back to Mayo again in a couple of weeks for more test. We are all praying for her .

7/6 Heidi called me today and she went to the local dr for pain in her leg and they exrayed it and found a quarter size spot behind her leg. Her local doctor has contacted her dr. at the Mayo clinic. They are reviewing her exray from Monticello and she will her from Mayo sometime this week on what is going to happen next. Please pray for them. God bless

7/2 update on Heidi, she has been to the Mayo clinic that past couple of days and she found out that she has two new spots on her leg , same spot as the original site of the cancer. She will be doctoring with mayo. Will update with more info. soon.

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Just a quick update, we found out yesterday that my husband Martin will have to go in for a biopsy on Monday at the U of M . They think something may be wrong. Please pray for him and that things work out ok.

Before reading this story please click on the link above and view the WCCO channel 4 story done on Noraas and Gorman for Valentines Day 2006.

http://www.monticellotimes.com/articles/2007/04/11/news/11extreme4127.txt

My name is Bridget Gorman and our family has nominated the Noraas family originally from Faribault, MN, for ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

Erik and Heidi Noraas live in Big Lake, MN, and have 3 children, ages 15, 10 & 5. When their youngest son was 10 days old he was diagnosed with meningitis, which left him mentally disabled and requiring a lot of extra needs and help.

2 years later after this devastating news, Erik Noraas was shipped overseas to Bosnia.

Almost simultaneously Heidi was diagnosed with cancer. She will return to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, this week for two days for tests.

Erik has returned and retired after 20 years in the Minnesota Army National Guard in September of 2005. Two weeks later Heidi read a story about Martin Gorman and his need for a kidney transplant. She called her husband and told him of the story.

Donating a kidney had always been something Eric had wanted to do. The Noraas family contacted Martin Gorman about his need for a transplant. The men met and spoke and questioned each other's concerns. And decided to move forward to see if it was medically possible.

From that point Erik went through many tests at the U of MN to see if he would be a compatible match for Martin. Surprised all signs appeared to be good and they could move ahead with the procedure. This was a huge relief to Martin and me as he had been on dialysis for 7 years.

One year ago on February 15th, 2006, Erik Noraas donated one of his kidneys to my husband. It has been a year and both Erik and my husband, Martin, are doing very well.

The Noraas home is desperately in need of an Extreme Makeover. They have no room in the 1100 sq ft home for their family and son's additional help. They enjoy and welcome all friends and family in their home. In the past they have helped many people in times of need with a place to stay.There home is in need of some repairs,rotting windows and doors, unfinished rooms and floors the house also has a huge moisture problem. This may explain why the Noraas family has such trouble with sickness in the home.

Again, their son who is in ongoing speech and occupational therapy desperately needs more space so that they may improve his therapy at a more reasonable pace. Which Extreme Home Editions would be able to provide for him at home.

The Noraas also have friends who are in wheel chairs and enjoy bringing them out to their home. Unfortunately, making it very difficult for their son and friends to access the house, as there are no true ramps for them to enter the home.

Both Erik and Heidi work full time jobs and manage their family life 24/7 as many do these days. Sadly though, the two older children are often pushed aside as their 5-year-old brother takes a lot of time. Where as if they had more room and help Erik and Heidi could give more attention to the others that need their affection as well.

The house is small but is also in need of repair. The windows have rotten away. As a result of that they are dealing with some health issues from the mold growing in the windows. The children are suffering from many ear and upper repertory issues and have undergone many surgeries to repair their ears after holes have been left behind after having tubes. Their daughter, age 10; will soon be having another surgery in hopes to fix the ear she is having difficulty hearing out of.

We feel that this family has been put through enough and we would like for them to have a home that will better manage their busy schedule. They are such a deserving family and obvious believers, who still answered the door to a stranger who called out for help, after all the cards they’d been dealt and their daily struggles.

THIS ENTIRE STORY WAS HEAVEN SENT AND TRULY GOD'S HAND!