By Lisa Chmelecki,Staff Writer

WALES – Suzanne Kropp was 9 years old when things started to get bad. Her chest got heavy and her throat tightened after nearly every meal.

She was running to the bathroom at school several times a day to use her inhaler, especially after her teacher erased the blackboard or the janitors cleaned the floors. She was always sick, always tired.

“We just knew that something wasn’t right,” said her mother, Cindy Kropp.

Suzanne was tested for food allergies, and it was discovered that she couldn’t eat wheat, poultry or brightly colored fruits. That meant no watermelon, no scrambled eggs, no pizza.

It seemed as if everything she wanted to eat was off limits. Then things got worse.

After a strict diet failed to solve the problem, Suzanne underwent more tests. Her doctors discovered that she was also allergic to phenol, a manufactured chemical in everything from cleaning products and tobacco smoke to shampoo and mouthwash.

“At first, I was like, Why is this happening to me?'” said Suzanne, now 11. “I just couldn’t eat or do anything.”

Not only were restaurants and sleepovers out of the question, but Suzanne eventually had to leave school and move out of her family’s old farmhouse on Route 126 in Wales. A year ago, her parents built a ranch behind the farmhouse with special wood and an expensive air filtration system.

“Sometimes, it’s like we’re living in a bubble,” Cindy Kropp said.

A hand-painted sign on the porch warns visitors that there can be no smoking, pets or perfume in the house. It also asks people to take off their shoes.

The family eats only organic beef and vegetables and uses all-natural cleaning products. When Suzanne is invited to a birthday party, her mother sends her with a wheat-free cake.

Feeling normal

Still, it has been impossible to keep the sixth-grader away from everything that hurts her. The weekly doctor’s visits and routine trips to the emergency room continue.

The only time Suzanne feels good is when she jumps in the pool for swim practice.

A competitive swimmer since she was 7, she is calm in the water. It is as if all of the things that make her sick – dust, the smell of chemicals, cigarette smoke – disappear.

And she is just like everyone else.

Knowing that about Suzanne is what prompted her pediatrician, Dr. Linda Glass, to send a letter to the ABC reality series “Extreme Makeover,” asking the producers to renovate the family’s ranch to include an indoor swimming pool.

When the show’s host, Ty Pennington, didn’t call, Dr. Glass contacted the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The call came earlier this summer: Suzanne was selected to receive an above-ground, outdoor pool.

The people at Make-A-Wish warned the family that it could take several weeks for the pool to arrive, but they promised it would be there by the end of the summer.

“She’s been jumping out of her skin, waiting for it to come,” her mother said.

The workers finally arrived Wednesday. On Thursday, they filled the pool with four feet of water, set up the electricity and built a pathway to the house.

Aside from frequent trips inside to take a break from the humidity, Suzanne spent most of the two days sitting on the deck overlooking the backyard. She watched and waited.

A soft-spoken girl who hated bothering her teachers or the school nurse by complaining about her asthma, Suzanne was too shy to ask the workers when they’d be done.

Luckily, her younger sister isn’t as timid.

“Is it ready yet?” 7-year-old Becca screamed from the deck.

“Soon,” one of the workers replied.

Hours went by before the pool was finally ready. It was dark and getting chilly outside, but that didn’t stop Suzanne.

She and her younger brother and sister jumped right in, squeezing in 40 minutes before bedtime.

“She gets in the pool and she feels like the world is lifted from her,” Cindy Kropp said.

The family is hopeful that Suzanne will eventually grow out of her allergies and return to school.

For now, however, they are still discovering things that aren’t good for her. Two recent asthma attacks after swim practice and a swim meet caused them to add Gatorade to her list.

“We just cross our fingers every day that she doesn’t develop allergies to the chemicals in the pool,” her mother said.

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