Meet Anthony, our Son. Anthony was born in 2008 and was given 24 hours to live by his consultant. He suffered a lack of oxygen at birth, which caused him to have several "assaults" to his brain. We stayed by his side and Anthony responded by removing his own life support, defying the consultant and lived. He spent 10 weeks in neo-natal care and through much love and support has currently made it to being 9 years old!

Anthony also has Down's Syndrome, and so we researched and knew what to expect from this condition. Nothing could prepare us for all the illnesses he has picked up over the years, and unfortunately, Anthony suffered several strokes in 2012 to further compound his already difficult life.

Anthony got very poorly from these strokes, and again we thought we would lose him. Anthony is made of much tougher stuff though and he bounced back again. A hole in his heart and Double-Stranded DNA were seen as a likely causation, but they couldn't be certain. The hole has since been sealed by an operation.

Anthony was already developmentally delayed globally, meaning he was behind in his walking, talking, eating, self hygiene etc, but since those strokes Anthony has become much worse. At his age now, he is able to walk 10-20 yards, but still cannot feed himself, wash, dress, or talk. He is still unaware that he has soiled himself and is unable to use stairs safely. We believe he now may be Autistic too as he needs a lot of sensory stimulation and everything has to be done his way or "no way". Anthony is very routine driven. Choosing anything but his way causes him to hurt himself or others and throw any nearby object.

His future looks to be much the same, we are not even sure if he knows we are his parents, just maybe familiar people who help him.

We knew we had to do something to give him his own safe space when he is at home where he can get his sensory stimulation. In our original home, we applied for council funding via a Disabled Facilties Grant, which was upheld. This was to give Anthony his own downstairs bedroom and bathroom, but the Council drew up plans that meant we would lose the garage and utility, and with a small kitchen and having to wash Anthony's bedding every day, would have left us nowhere to put the washing machine and dryer. When we questioned the council about this, they advised that provision of space for Anthony was the priority and not washing facilities, as washing facilities are not considered necessary for just Anthony, but are a family commodity. No amount of arguing that these were mostly used for Anthony would budge them on this opinion.

So we moved house and put in plans to convert the existing garage into accommodation for Anthony, this time as there was space, with a sensory room too! These plans were granted, as too was the £30,000 grant (from which the council shaved off £4000 for their own fees, not itemised)

On top of this we have already re-mortgaged our home to put more money on top of the Council money and have no funds available to us to complete the build of this extension and furnish it.

Will you help us by donating whatever you can please?

We need to get Anthony his own safe space as soon as possible.

Should there be any surplus funds after the extension is built and fitted out, they will be used to help other disabled children's lives via a charity in Anthony's name.