Ella Rose Gilbertson

Ella Rose is a loving and happy little girl who has faced so many challenges and difficulties in her short life. Over the years she has had to go through many different surgeries which includes 4 open heart surgeries for her complex heart condition.

Ella Rose also has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and is unable to walk and is a fulltime wheelchair user. She is non verbal and uses an aac device to communicate her needs and wants through picture symbols.

Ella Rose relies on bulky equipment to help with postural care and positioning to help with her tone, it also protects her hips that have already had surgery on to stop it dislocating.

At present Ella Rose is currently carried up and down stairs for bed and to go to the bathroom to get washed. She is also in incontinence pads and is stuck down stairs all day and has to be changed on the living room floor which means she has no privacy as its impossible to carry her up and down that many times.

She loves her independence in her power chair but unfortunately doesn't get the use of her chair to get about the house as our doors have to be widened and we have so much bulky equipment in our hall and living room.

As a family we are looking to give Ella Rose the same opportunities as any other little girl her age and to have her own room this will mean there will be significant changes to be made to the family home which will allow it to be more accessible and inclusive for Ella Rose's and her every day needs.

The plan is to give Ella Rose her own downstairs bedroom and bathroom, which includes a height adjustable bath that also acts as a changing table.

As part of the adaptation plans, doors will also be widened to allow Ella Rose access to all areas of her home.

After the build, tracking and hoists will be added to help safely transfer Ella Rose about different equipment and the house safely.

This will have a huge positive impact and benifit to the family to have all this work carried out.

As a working family and with all the caring commitments and managing Ella Roses hospital appointments, it can be really challenging. Any adaptations to a household can be challenging, but with the needs of Ella Rose and her getting bigger, everyone is struggling with this big adaptation. They had hoped to add any additional costs to their mortgage, but, with mortgage rates increased, this is no longer feasible for them.

Unfortunately they find themselves relying on fundraising to help them be able to provide Ella Rose with the much needed space of a downstairs bedroom and bathroom.

This has been on going for over a year or probably more but they are feeling the strain on their bodies from carrying Ella Rose around the house, especially up and down stairs - it's now becoming extremely unsafe.

Charlene has already had a fall while carrying Ella Rose down the last few stairs but this could have much worse. Charlene has also put her back out on several occasions even doing the most simple of cares and doing all the manual handling everyday.

As Ella Rose is getting older and heavier It's become extremely hard to transfer her about the house safely.

With help from the grant and family already we still have a short fall of £8000 to find before we can start. We have everything in place to finally go ahead with the work and hoping to get started as soon as possible.

Thank for taking the time to visit our just giving page and any donation made is greatly appreciated as they don't like asking for help.