A young San Diego teenager who faced an extremely rare cancer diagnosis has something enormous to celebrate.
"I'm officially cancer free now!" Lauren Mullins recently told NBC7.
NBC7 first featured Lauren when she was selected to have her bedroom remodeled, thanks to a new charity in San Diego called Savvy Giving By Design. The organization hopes to provide a beautiful sanctuary where children with life-threatening illnesses can recover.
"During treatment you need a place where you can go to be alone because you're always with other people," Lauren, who was diagnosed with colon cancer, said. "To go to your dream space and be alone makes you happy and you forget you have cancer."
And Lauren now has her dream space as she recovers.
"I knew my room would be nice, but I was surprised at how nice," she said.
Interior designer Susan Wintersteen, who founded the charity, remade Lauren's room in a "Modern Country" style. Lauren loves horseback riding.
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Both Wintersteen and Lauren said their favorite parts of the new room are the barn door window treatments and the custom vanity.
"We custom built a vanity with a quartz top, used knotty alder barn doors as curtains on the windows and shiplap for more texture on the walls," Wintersteen said, "There is a place for everything, it was one of the things she mentioned in our first meetings."
"I like that my room is unique. No one else has custom barn doors for window treatments," Lauren said.
Wintersteen also believes it's important to to remodel siblings' rooms as part of a project. Lauren's brother Ty has a remodeled room as well.
Wintersteen said there are many more children who she hopes to help with room makeovers though Savvy Giving By Design.
She plans to take on 3 new spaces this summer and is now trying to raise money on the Savvy Giving by Design website.
"It’s a BIG ask, but all three are struggling and I wanted to try and make their summer a bit more tolerable," she told NBC7.
She is also planning a fundraiser for September to try to raise money for the cause.
