ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" star Ty Pennington was recovering at his Atlanta home Wednesday from an emergency appendectomy.

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The former "Trading Spaces" handyman and author of the 2003 New York Times bestseller "Ty's Tricks" was in Atlanta during the weekend when he became ill and was taken Saturday to a hospital where doctors removed the organ, E! Online reported.

Pennington expressed determination to continue helping the show's latest beneficiaries get their expected residential upgrade, despite his appendectomy.

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"I don't want to let the family down, and all of us with the show want to give them the new house they deserve," Pennington said in a statement.

"Thanks to phones and emails, I will be able to maintain my part by giving input to the other designers and discussing our plans for the house. I am just so glad this happened in Atlanta, where I have so much support from my family and friends."