Recently, Woodhouse teamed up with the Dream Factory of Central New York to build a special treehouse for seven-year-old Isla Landon. She was born with Oculofaciocardiodental Syndrome, a rare condition that causes congenital cataracts, glaucoma, and loss of peripheral vision and depth perception. She has had more than fifty surgeries, and has lost sight in one eye. Knowing Isla could lose sight in her other eye any day, Isla’s parents reached out to the Dream Factory of Central New York to make one of Isla’s dreams come true: a tree house.
Project coordinators Donna Berich and Lori Lupo met with Isla to plan her treehouse, an elaborate structure with a zipline. After calling several builders with little success, Donna went to Pat Seaman and Woodhouse to ask for their help. Pat was happy to take on the project and make Isla’s dream come true. “Her smile during the construction phase has made every second of our efforts worthwhile,” he stated.
Pat and architect Ray Lefebvre met with Isla and her family to design the treehouse.
Together, they drafted a structure with two tree houses connected by a zip line. Complete with rope ladders, bunk beds, and a trap door, the treehouse was then rendered into a three-dimensional model. Isla was so excited she taped a picture of the model to her bedroom wall!
Once the plans were drafted and approved, Woodhouse set to work building the treehouse, calling in contractors to landscape the area and pour the cement foundation.
Isla’s smile during the frame-raising process was contagious – she even got to stand on one of the supporting beds!
Then the tree house sidings and roof were added.
“To see how excited Isla is about the treehouse has been amazing,” Jim Landon, Isla’s father, stated. “Pat and his guys have been great since the day we started working with them. The Dream Factory has been awesome as well – the relationship they created with Isla is pretty amazing. We feel very fortunate that this can be done for her.”
Read more about the story on:
- The Ithaca Times
- Wellsboro Gazette
- Listen to the Wake Up Q show on Country 103.7 podcast here.