KEVIN B. KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Mickey Mouse and a team of volunteers kick off the first day of filming for "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" at the University Medical Center's Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit yesterday morning. Kassandra Okvath, seen at lower left on a cell phone, nominated the transplant unit for the makeover.

A University Medical Center transplant unit is getting an "extreme makeover," thanks to the wish of one of its 8-year-old patients.

Mickey Mouse and a team of about 35 volunteers in yellow hard hats arrived at UMC yesterday to kick off the first day of filming of an episode of the ABC reality show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" that will feature the UMC's Blood and Marrow Transplantation Unit.

The BMT unit was chosen for the televised renovations after Kassandra Okvath, who spent several weeks in the unit as a patient, sent the show's producers a videotaped wish that the white walls of the transplant area be brightened up.

This is the first time that the television show, which specializes in renovating houses in need of a facelift, has done work in a hospital.

"We were so inspired by Kassandra," said Diane Korman, coordinating producer for "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." "She could have asked for anything, but she asked for her hospital to be made over."

Okvath, who was diagnosed in 2003 with neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that appears mainly in children, has undergone two transplants at UMC, in which bone-marrow like cells taken from her own bloodstream were put back into her body, said Michael Graham, director of UMC's pediatric bone marrow transplants.

The 8-year-old spent about a month in the hospital after each transplant, Graham said, and during her stays she decided the place could use some sprucing up.

"(She thought) instead of coming to the hospital for a month at a time, you should be able to go on vacation in a month,'" said Jennifer Christian, manager of UMC's BMT program.

Christian said Okvath's plan for the unit was to give each room on the unit the theme of a different country, so a trip to the hospital would be more like a journey to another land.

That's the concept the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" crew hopes to achieve.

"We're going to work with Kassandra to make her vision come true," said Kathy Franklin, a project volunteer from the California-based "Disney Worldwide Outreach" program.

"We were just so touched by the fact that her wish was for other children," Franklin said.

A team of Disney artists, designers and other volunteers will coordinate much of the work at UMC but will frequently consult with Okvath, Franklin said. The finished product is expected to have a Disney flair.

Improvements to the third-floor unit will include the refurbishing of six of the 29 patient rooms and the renovation of a storage and playroom area, which the crew hopes to convert into a movie theater for patients, Korman said.

Of the 150 patients treated in the BMT unit each year, about one-third are children, Christian said.

Since many of them are too sick to leave the unit, getting rid of the clinical-looking white walls might make their stay more comfortable, said Katie Riley, associate director for community relations for the Arizona Health Sciences Center.

Christian said UMC officials didn't know the unit had been nominated for a makeover before receiving the call saying it was selected.

"We were just shocked," Christian said.

Before beginning their work on the unit, volunteers attended a seminar on health and safety regulations and infection control to ensure necessary safeguards, like containing paint fumes, will be followed to avoid putting patients at risk.

Since six of the unit's beds will be closed for the project, some patients might be temporarily cared for in a different area of the hospital, Riley said

Okvath took part in yesterday's filming with her mom and dad, Nichol and Bryan Okvath, and her five brothers and sisters – 6-year-old Gabryella, 5-year-old Levi, 2-year- old twins Josiah and Tobiah and 6-month-old Jonathan.

Kassandra Okvath is recovering well, Graham said, but will have to be monitored for the next two years to make sure her cancer doesn't come back.

Korman said the most touching thing about the 8-year-old's makeover request is that even though she has left the hospital, she wants to make sure others, who might have to stay even longer than her, have a nicer environment.

"She is an example to all of us," Korman said.

Filming will continue this week, and the BMT unit is expected to be completed Wednesday, so the Okvath family can tour it Thursday morning. The Phoenix family is staying in a Tucson hotel until the project is completed.

Ty Pennington, the regular host of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" will not be in Tucson for the project because he is on another assignment, Korman said.

The episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is tentatively scheduled to air March 13 on ABC.