Arlene Nickless's husband Tim worked for 18 years as a nurse, so it was especially tragic when he died from Hepatitis C.
He caught the disease after being pricked by a needle at work, and suffered for years before finally passing away in 2008. That left Arlene to look after their three sons and take care of their 1860s farmhouse.
The widow asked for help from ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and within months the cast arrived to change her life for the better.
The show's 1,600 volunteers tore down her old house and put up a new 3,300 square foot dream home, with four bedrooms, new wood floors, stone columns, and a Lego-inspired room her sons.
"It was like everything was lifted off of me," Nickless said about seeing her new home for the first time. "To know that that was our home, it was beautiful [...] it was a new beginning for us."
But just nine years later, the family's world had been flipped upside down. Not only were they evicted, they also had to ironically hitch their moving trailer to the new car they received from the TV show.
And the reason for the heartbreaking twist is actually surprisingly common for Extreme Makeover contestants.
The Nickless family weren't the first family from Extreme Makeover to lose their new home.
Like other unlucky families, their property taxes skyrocketed after the renovation by the show. The Nickless family stepped into their new house with a $30,000 mortgage, and property taxes which had spiked to $5,500.
By the end of 2016, that mortgage had inflated to $113,000, and the property taxes had crept up to over $7,500.
Add in a devastating car accident in 2010, and it's easy to see why the home was foreclosed.
Nickless doesn't blame the show, but instead points the finger at her mortgage servicer, Ocwen. The company had also been targeted by the Michigan for allegedly violating the state's mortgage laws.
The Nickless home was put up for auction, and the family was forced to pack up their things and move out. In spite of everything, Arlene's kind instincts still shine through.
"I feel bad because so many people came together to help us," she said. "I know I shouldn't feel like I let them down, but I do."
"When I stepped out of the house the day Extreme Makeover came, you will see me say 'I can't believe this is happening,'" she added. "And, truthfully, that's what I feel right now: I can't believe this is happening."
It breaks your heart reading about a case like this...
[H/T: Inside Edition, Lansing State Journal]