25 years ago my Uncle Phil was involved in a terrible car accident in which a piece of wooden fencing entered the left side of his brain leaving him in intensive care for months and paralysed on the right side of his body.

Since his accident he has been plagued with health issues including suffering from severe epileptic fits and seizures with no warning. He has had to have half of his lung removed after a bad case of pneumonia and has been in intensive care numerous times as his immune system struggles to cope with any infection/virus he picks up.

In the last couple of years, he has been struggling to negotiate the stairs in his family home in order for him to use the bathroom and go to bed. An application was made for a stair lift to be fitted but was rejected as it wasn’t deemed possible with the space available and not seen as an appropriate long term solution for my Uncle’s needs.
Knowing it will only become more difficult in the future, my Aunty applied with the aid of the council, for a grant to help convert their garage into a downstairs wet room and bathroom so that my Uncle can remain living in his own house and not be stuck upstairs for weeks at a time when he has a period of severe illness.

Plans were drawn up and set to go ahead when they received the devastating news from the council that the grant had been withdrawn.

Despite being distraught at this decision, my Aunty hasn’t given up. She has managed to reach out to some local tradesmen who have been generous enough to agree to help with the renovation work in their own time.

My husband and I are competing in Tough Mudder in 2 weeks’ time and Survival of the Fittest in October to try and raise funds for materials and equipment to get this project underway and give my Uncle back the quality of life he so desperately needs.

Please, if anyone can help with a donation big or small or even just sharing this post would be so greatly appreciated by our family.

Much Love, Cassie x