LeAnn Rimes helped give a deserving family a gift to change their lives forever: Their dream home. Rimes was a guest on Sunday night's (March 1) episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and it really affected her.

"They did send me the whole family’s story that they submitted — I remember just sitting in front of my husband watching this with these big tears rolling down my face, and he was like, ‘What are you watching?'" Rimes tells People of when she learned the family's emotional story

The Holtzclaw family suffered a life-altering event when Jeff Holtzclaw, a resident of Covina, California, and a teacher for at-risk students, was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle in 2017. One of Jeff's legs had to be amputated as a result of the accident, putting him in a wheelchair, which made it difficult for him to navigate the house that he shared with his wife, Emily, and the couple's three daughters.

"Their life had kind of been turned upside down," Rimes recounts. "They have been through a lot, but adapted and are still full of love and full of life. What they give back to the community and to the kids themselves is just remarkable."

When it came time to give the family a home makeover, "everybody showed up that could to return the favor." Rimes worked with designer Darren Keefe to salvage a special part of the family's original home: The doorway height charts.

"Just to light up someone’s life. Mine’s been very blessed and my life’s been lit up a zillion times over," she says of the big reveal.

The reboot of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition now features host Jesse Tyler Ferguson. The third episode, which included Rimes, aired on Sunday, March 1 at 9PM ET on HGTV.

Stars Who've Suffered Unthinkable Tragedies

 

 

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