Derby couple's landscaping makeover airs tonight

Jason Cameron, left, host of "America's Most Desperate Landscape" on the DIY Network, poses with homeowners Patty and Casimir Stochmal of Derby. The Stochmals won a front yard makeover worth more than $25,000 in a contest sponsored by the DIY Network. The work was completed in three days in June. The show airs at 9 p.m. today. / Contributed photo

Good fortune finally finds deserving Derby couple

The story I covered over the weekend about Casimir and Patty Stochmal, the Derby couple who won a makeover of their front yard courtesy of the DIY network's Desperate Landscapes show, is about more than curb appeal.

The house as it looked Saturday afternoon.

Although the landscaping and all the extras (valued at "at least $25,000" by the show's executive producer) transformed the house, I couldn't help but be reminded of when I first met the Stochmals.

Six years ago this month I met the couple, as did news people from throughout the state, when their special needs daughter Lauren's prosthetic legs were stolen.
The legs were lost when her mother's car was stolen from a parking lot in Milford. They were later recovered in New Haven.

Lauren has Down Syndrome. An infection when she was just 13 months old required her left leg to be amputated below the knee.

Now 8, Lauren is a feisty child who is doing well at Bradley School, Patty Stochmal says. The couple also has a son, Kevin, who is 15.

It's clear this family has a lot of fans. The crew who arrived to transform the yard, build a porch, pave a driveway and create a stonewall had plenty of help from family, friends, and neighbors.

The volunteers - all looking sweaty and exhausted -  were quite a sight to see.

They gave the Stochmals physical help, but also moral support to deal with the stress associated with having a crew from a TV show stop at their front step.

Congratulations go out to the Stochmals for winning the contest, as well as to the army of volunteers who were there for them when they needed them.