Hi. I'm Sue and I have set up this Go Fund Me for my friends Mark and Aleya and their family to adapt their home to maintain Marks independence and keep their home as a family home.

“I stood up to go to work– and never did it again”

Mark was 34, with a young family (his youngest was just 6 months old), hardworking man with plans, drive and energy – a good job, working on the family home. In the blink of an eye (and the slip of several disk) , wheelchairs and depending on others became his future.

An operation was called for - his family were given 3 potential outcomes – fix, no fix relatively pain free and a slim chance of no fix and a lot of pain. The fact we are here on go fund me suggests that we all know the answer - the operation was unsuccessful and now unimaginable pain.

Mark tried to do what he knew best work, provide but that was impossible, he coped but with a huge price to pay – struggling, coping and depression – Life changing would be an understatement. Him and his family were flipped upside down and inside out. Think about the worst pain you can imagine that spikes with every movement and then imagine hearing your baby cry for you in the next room – now close your eyes and picture your struggle to be a parent for that moment. Imagine going from an active sporting parent kicking balls around the park to become a parent who often cannot even get to the touchline to watch their child play. Have you ever felt like a pedestrian in your own life?

Mark and his family worked together – they bought his manual wheelchair themselves, they scraped together money for a downstairs loo, DFG paid for a stairlift, they struggled and survived – An amazing family who deserve a break in their life but it wasn’t to be. A recent hospital visit and medication trials have exhausted any opportunities for recovery and pain relief. So now Mark has now received the devastating news – 13 years from his initial injury - that his condition will get much worse – he will soon loose much of his upper body strength and use, as well as no respite from excruciating pain (all options have been exhausted the only way for Mark to get any semblance of relief is to limit his exertion it won't stop the pain but will hopefully slow down his further decline) – They thought they had time to save towards an accessible home but sadly prognosis is much bleaker than expected. With the added blow that his wife, Aleya, his main carer has received a similar diagnosis to Mark at the beginning.

They have been saving hard but due to having to change over to Universal Credit (Aleya is only able to work part-time as needs to be available to help Mark) their savings for the essential house works have now been counted against them and they are no longer able to claim UC – even though they were told to save for the extension. They need to start the build ASAP as there is a real risk of having to dip into these savings to survive day-to-day, making the extension work potentially fall further and further away. They are a proud family and it's taken this final blow for them to agree to this Go Fund Me.

They cannot re-mortgage the property due to part-time wages and lack of income. They were initially offered a ground floor extension by the DLF with £40k input from themselves but this would have made Marks bedroom the living room, no access to the kitchen, and their youngest would have to wheel his bike from the back garden, through Marks 'bedroom' and out of the front door. - This would give Mark no privacy and dignity.

Currently there is only steps to get into their home. Downstairs although it has a loo it is tiny, no doorways are wide enough for a standard manual chair – his privately funded NHS electric wheelchair could fit through the doorways but the configuration of the rooms does not enable him to move it around safely. Currently Mark uses crutches to drag himself around his home – which is causing even more damage to his upper spine and shoulders. He often falls, and he is unable to get himself up again.. Upstairs there is no room for a wheelchair to manoeuvre safely. There is only a bath which has becoming increasingly difficult for Mark to use.

They have received planning permission to build a 2 storey rear extension with a ‘porch’ area to enable flat access into the home. With a wetroom upstairs and additional space to make sure Mark and Aleya can have a larger bedroom while still keeping a family home. Down stairs the extension would enable Mark to be able to navigate the down stairs keeping his independence, allowing Aleya and the children peace of mind while they work and go to school. Also the works will help to slow down Aleya’s spinal degeneration and future proof the home for her too!

The total cost of the extension is just over £120k. They have saved enough to break ground and a builder has agreed to start work in the next few weeks. The builder has agreed to work in stages as they know how dire the situation is. So the build has been broken down as follows:

Stage 1: foundations and ground floor walls £40k - which is already raised.

Stage 2: Building the 2nd floor £40k approx. If it cannot be raised in time then its an extra £3k to put on a roof so that the space can be useable.

Stage 3: Wiring, fittings ect - £40k. This is for the wetroom, electrics, heating ect for both floors.

The builders have agreed to use as much recycled materials as possible to keep costs as low as possible but it feels impossible for the family at the moment. For a man that fitted the kitchen in the home etc - this wait and reliance on others is soul destroying. They will be looking at other routes of funding and fundraising with their friends but the urgency has left Go Fund Me as the only realistic way to get the works going quickly enough.

They are such a kind, honest family who have helped me out in so many ways I wish I could click my fingers and make it all happen and ease their load but I don't have that money myself and this Go Fund Me setting up is all I can do.