Our names are Ciaran and Katie. We are looking to raise money for our two boys, Joshua aged 10 and Oliver aged 7 to be able to have a safe and accessible garden. Both off our boys have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy which is a life limiting muscle wasting disease. Duchenne is a rare and fatal progressive muscle wasting condition for which there is currently no cure.

Duchenne has now taken away Joshua’s ability to walk and he is now a full time power wheelchair user. His younger brother Oliver struggles to run, can no longer walk up stairs unaided, has daily falls and uses a wheelchair for longer distances. Eventually he will be a full time power-chair user too. Oliver is also autistic.

This heartbreaking disease takes away many things from families dealing with Duchenne but we want our boys to still be able to enjoy the things that other children their age do. One of these things is being able to get outside in the garden and play. Joshua and Oliver love sports and spending time outside.

18 months ago we had adaptions done to our home to make life easier for Joshua and Oliver and for it to be wheelchair accessible. Unfortunately this left our garden inaccessible with only a small ramp leading outside to the garden. This small ramp then leads onto stones and a steep ramp leading onto the actual garden itself. This makes it not safe or accessible for either of the boys.

We would love to be able to raise enough money to transform our garden into a safe and accessible space for our boys to play in. We need a ramp leading straight from the back door all the way up the garden (which is quite a long way due to it being a big garden) and round the back of the house. We would also love to get artificial grass so Joshua’s wheelchair can go on the grass with more ease. If we are lucky enough to raise more than our target we would love to get some accessible play equipment in our garden for the boys to enjoy and possibly some sensory toys for Oliver.

Any funds would be greatly appreciated and would be life changing for our boys.