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LEXINGTON — Having practiced it with gusto, several thousand onlookers were excited when the time came Tuesday to welcome Tricia Creasey and her family to their new home.

The seventh-grade teacher, who suffers from colon cancer, is the latest beneficiary of the ABC reality series “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” (Photo gallery of the Tuesday's reveal)

The Creaseys were among several hundred families from the Tar Heel state nominated to be on the show’s seventh season. They learned last Wednesday they had been selected when show host Ty Pennington came to their door.

“She’s a fighter,” said teacher Crystal Sexton, who works with Tricia Creasey at E. Lawson Brown Middle School. “She’d take her chemo Thursday and Friday and be back in class by Monday. She decided not to let this defeat her.”

Tricia, 37, and husband William, a network analyst with Guilford County Schools, bought the Allred Road house as a fixer-upper. According to a news release, the home suffered from a leaky roof, lack of insulation and foundation problems.

Tricia’s medical bills, which were totaling about $1,400 a month, meant that the family had to delay many of their planned renovations. She was first diagnosed three years ago and had undergone treatment, but the cancer returned in May and worked its way into her lymph nodes.

Co-workers and students who were on hand for the big reveal Tuesday described Creasey as a generous woman who, even with mounting medical bills, would still help buy school supplies for needy kids.

“She does so much. Now, it’s time to give back to her,” said another fellow Brown teacher, Misty Hinesley .

Friends also had much praise for William.

“He has been amazing,” Sexton said. “When she was sick, he stepped in to fix dinner for the kids, to take them to dance. He’s filled a lot of gaps.”

Immediately after Pennington’s knock on the door, the family packed their bags to go to Walt Disney World, courtesy of the show. Crews set to work that night packing and moving their belongings. Their house was demolished on Thursday, and the foundation for the new house was poured that night. On Friday, the exterior walls began going up.

Lexington company Hedrick Creative Building constructed the house.

“My husband (Randy), he was on the cabinet crew, and they were putting up the ceiling while he was hanging the kitchen cabinets,” said Lisa Inman of Linwood who carried a sign that read “Welcome Home Creasey Family.”

“It was supposed to go up in about 106 hours,” she said. “It was awe-inspiring seeing the community coming out to support this family.”

Robin Bivens, executive director of the Lexington Tourism Authority and Visitor Center, estimated that about 2,500 volunteers from the community showed up to help with the project.

On Tuesday, spectators were bused in on shuttles that departed from the former Walmart parking lot off I-85 in Lexington.

The road leading up to the house, closed to the general public, was lined with work trucks and delivery vans.

In the early afternoon, crews were pressure washing the driveway and trying (unsuccessfully) to clean off the mud-caked road in front of the house. Security guards were motioning spectators, many of whom had been there since 8 a.m., to get back behind the barricades.

Noretta Leonard, who lives down the road from the Creaseys, said crews had set up in her front yard.

“You could hear them working every now and then, but it’s actually been real quiet,” she said. “Overall, though, it’s been exciting. I’m grateful to have been able to help this family.”

About 2:20 p.m., with his bus parked in front of the house, Pennington came into view, eliciting the cheers of many young women in the crowd.

He led them in chants of “move that bus.” The bus pulled away, only to back up again.

The crowd went through the ritual again but grew quiet when the family pulled up in a black limo.

The Creaseys got out, the crowd shouted “move that bus” one final time, and the family got its first look at the house, a 3,100-square-foot, four-bedroom domicile constructed according to the National Association of Home Builders’ green building standards.

The family was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but Tricia appeared to be crying as she hugged the cast and crew.

Twelve-year-old daughter Brittany ran up to the door prematurely and couldn’t get it open. Fifteen minutes later, though, it was unlocked and the family went inside.

A broadcast date for the episode has not been set. Bivens said the episode likely will air in late January or early February.

Contact Robert C. Lopez at 691-5091 or robert.lopez@news-record.com