Group transforms sick girl's bedroom

While designers were busy redoing her bedroom in Kalispell, Katelyn Roker was in a hospital 250 miles away fighting for her life.

Katelyn, 6, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma in winter 2010, was being treated in a Spokane hospital while interior designer Paula Strickland and seamstress Shelbey Dutter made over her Kalispell bedroom. Neuroblastoma is a form of cancer that attacks nerve cells.

Their efforts for Katelyn were under the auspices of Special Spaces, a Tennessee-based nonprofit with a mission to make over rooms for children with critical illnesses.

Strickland and Dutter were working under a tight timetable, trying to complete the bedroom work before Katelyn was scheduled to come home from the hospital Wednesday.

But the day before, they learned that Katelyn was in too much pain and needed to stay at the hospital surrounded by her family.

At that point, Strickland and Dutter had nearly completed the makeover and took the news with heavy hearts.

“Everything came to a standstill,” Strickland said. “Within five minutes we regrouped” and decided to finish the room as scheduled.

They continued working and completed the room 30 minutes before their planned deadline.

On that rainy Wednesday, the designers, a volunteer and family friend gathered inside the Rokers’ home. A compilation of candid family photos were arranged on the dining room table. A star-shaped balloon floated on the ceiling. Katelyn’s presence could be felt from a smiling portrait hanging on the wall.

Down the hallway, musician Taylor Swift’s song “Fifteen” played out from Katelyn’s stereo. The song was on a CD compilation of favorite songs Katelyn listed for Strickland and Dutter.

The room is cheery. The walls are painted light green and meet a sky-blue ceiling with painted white clouds.

“The whole point of the room was for her to have a place to feel like she’s outside even if she has to stay inside and [where] she was surrounded by her favorite things,” Strickland said.

The room is what every girl might dream about, but the personal touches illustrate “Katelyn.”

In one corner, a sparkly purple butterfly stands out among several green butterflies hanging from the ceiling. A little pink wooden stove, refrigerator and tea set are important features of the room.

“The kitchen set was a big deal. She wanted the kitchen set,” Strickland said.

Katelyn’s name is spelled out in purple wooden letters above her window, which is bordered by built-in shelving. Katelyn’s favorite stuffed animals, her pink cowgirl boots and family pictures decorate the shelves. A chandelier shines over her bed, which is decorated with big colorful pillows, a pink bedspread and a white dust ruffle with bow and lace detail. Across from the bed, Katelyn’s hats are arranged on a rack.

Katelyn is a student at St. Matthew’s Catholic School. Rosaries are draped over an angel statue and pink and white polka-dotted lampshade.

“Kids that are critically ill see a lot of hospital rooms and needles, and people that aren’t family. The room itself, I think, allows them to have a dream,” Strickland said. “It’s something they have control over.”

Dutter added: “They have a retreat of their own.”

They took photos of the finished room and texted them to Katelyn’s mother, who showed the finished room to her daughter.

“Her mother said that is the first time in two days that her daughter smiled,” Strickland said and began to cry. “We’re here. We’re 250 miles apart and we’re sitting in their kitchen. We were strangers two weeks ago. These are tears of happiness because we know it’s going to make Katelyn happy and tears of sorrow because we know she’s so sick.” 

Strickland plans to bring more photos of the room and the pink tea set to Katelyn.

“We want to send her bedroom to her. She wants to make cappuccino with her tea set,” Strickland said.

Strickland wanted to start a Flathead chapter of Special Spaces after seeing the organization highlighted on a television show.

“It’s the best project I’ve ever done,” she said.

After gaining affiliation with Special Places, Strickland contacted the Rokers after learning of Katelyn’s illness. Time was of the essence to complete the room before Katelyn was scheduled to come home from the hospital to view the bedroom surprise. The duo squeezed a month of work into five days to complete the room.

Before drawing up a design, the two visited Katelyn.

“I interviewed Katelyn, asked her what her favorite colors were, her favorite things,” Strickland said. “We did the whole room around her favorite colors: Green, purple, pink — and butterflies, she loves butterflies. Basically, she liked the whole ‘girlie’ theme.”

With more children to help through Special Places, the women are looking for volunteers of all talents and trades, along with financial donations.

“It costs between $500 and $1,000 to do a child’s room. There are no administrative costs,” Strickland said.

Strickland, who’s the local director for Special Spaces, and Dutter , the co-director, want to make their donated services available to all critically ill children in the valley to make their days brighter. Completing Katelyn’s room gave them the determination to go forward and help other children they said.

“This is a prototype of what we want to do for many children,” Strickland said. “That’s how Katelyn helped us.”

Katelyn’s determination to overcome her illness recently caught the attention of long-distance swimmer Emily von Jentzen, who swam across Lake Chelan in Washington to raise money for the Roker family.

For more information about Special Spaces, or to donate, call 755-3443 or email paula@specialspaces.org.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.