Tricia Creasey, a Davidson County teacher whose struggle with cancer was featured on the TV show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," has died.
Creasey died about 2:30 p.m. Thursday at home with family and friends by her side, said Randy Holmes, the principal of E. Lawson Brown Middle School in Thomasville, where she taught.
Creasey, 39, was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2006. She underwent chemotherapy while continuing to teach seventh-grade science and social studies. Creasey; her husband, William; and their three daughters — twins Makenzie and Makayla, who are now in the second grade, and oldest daughter Brittany, who is now a high school freshman — shared a cramped, dilapidated home on Allred Road in Lexington. In 2009, they came to the attention of the producers of "Extreme Makeover," an ABC reality series in which remodeling is done or new homes are built for deserving families.
The Creaseys were selected for the series, in an episode that was recorded in November 2009 and aired in January 2010. Their 1,180-square-foot home was torn down and replaced with a state-of-the-art, energy-efficient 3,100-square-foot home.
In May 2011, William Creasey told the Journal, "I think the house has helped us tremendously as far as having a safe environment and good, clean air to breathe. She can get in there in the bedroom, in a place where she can shut the door and have some time to take it easy and recover from chemo."
The weekly series "Extreme Makeover" went off the air in January, but the network says it will return in the form of occasional TV specials.
Tricia Creasey had been on leave from teaching school since October while she was continuing treatments.
"Unfortunately, with each treatment, it just got more and more difficult," said Holmes, speaking with permission from the family. He had continued to visit the family on a regular basis. He said that even while Tricia Creasey was in declining health toward the end, "the eyes were there, and the spirit was there, and the love for her family was there."
Additional counselors will be on hand Friday at the middle school and at the Thomasville schools her daughters attend, Brier Creek Elementary and East Davidson High, according to Holmes.
"She was a very outstanding teacher, and a good person, and we're certainly going to miss her," Holmes said. "All these children are going to miss her, all the people she's touched in 15 years."
People responded on Tricia's Facebook page with an outpouring of prayers and wishes for the family.
"She fought a valiant fight and inspired us all along the way," one person wrote.
"I will never ever forget the kindness she always had in her heart," wrote another.
Davidson Funeral Home will be in charge of the arrangements, and a visitation is likely this weekend, though details had not been worked out as of Thursday evening.
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