On Friday the 4th of July, my brother and sister-in-law Sean and Louise experienced a house fire that caused significant damage to their home in Heathfield, UK. Unfortunately, the damage means their once safe and beautiful home is completely uninhabitable. While we are incredibly grateful that they are both safe, the fire has left them facing a long and difficult road to living back in their much-loved home again. After a lot of stress and heart-breaking appeals they got the devastating news that their Home Insurance company were rejecting their claim leaving them with no way of rebuilding.

The insurance company had found a discrepancy on the home insurance policy due to Louise’s beauty room that is up in their spare room. When Louise resigned from Easyjet and decided to go back into Beauty she originally wanted to set up on her own. Due to covid things didn’t take off as quickly as she had wanted to and she decided to get a job in a Beauty Salon part time due to health reasons although she still wanted to offer beauty from home. The decision was to offer treatments at cost to make it affordable and accessible for everyone regardless of their circumstances. Due to her ongoing Beauty Guild membership, Louise had all the right Insurance and qualifications to do this. We see this as a hobby rather than a business as Louise doesn’t take any money from the beauty room. The insurance company did not see it this way and instead used this as the reason to void their policy.

For clarity, this room is two storeys above where the fire broke out and Louise holds individual public liability and contents insurance which she believed was the right thing to have in place. They will challenge this decision with the financial ombudsmen as they have been treated incredibly unfairly after a fire which was not their fault but there is no guarantee that they will receive anything financially to help them. On the day of the fire, Louise was eating her lunch and watching the TV when their Ring doorbell at the back door alerted her of motion. When she opened the app, she saw the amount of smoke and rushed to the back door to see what was happening. This is when she saw the fire and smoke filling their kitchen, after hearing the fire and seeing flames she realised the fire was too big for her to fight so got out. Louise was on the phone to 999 as she watched her house fill with smoke which has left her with difficulties hearing smoke alarms, seeing and smelling smoke and flames of a fire. She was eventually taken to hospital by ambulance after inhaling smoke. Louise suffers from Asthma which makes being in the house incredibly difficult due to the remaining smoke and soot.

Much of their home and belongings have been damaged, and they’re now in urgent need of support to begin the process of repairs and rebuilding. Anyone who knows Sean and Louise knows how generous and kind-hearted they are, and they are always there to offer help when someone else is in need. They have worked incredibly hard decorating each room and upcycling old furniture as they earn the money to continue making their house a home. They finally had their garden completed in March 2025 after 7 years of waiting to have a garden with grass. It’s heart-breaking knowing they will now need to start again after living together and collecting items for the last 12 years and in this house since 2018.

Sean and Louise have been career minded and always been incredibly private about whether they would have a family of their own. Sean has dedicated the last 19 years (14 years in his current role) of his life to serving various communities across Sussex in his work as a Store Manager for Boots the Chemist particularly in his work managing his Pharmacy and supporting his patients from Hassocks, Burgess Hill, Hove, Lewes and now Bexhill. Outside of work Sean is an avid football fan (Brighton) and will watch as much as time allows him. He is slowly working his way round the 92 stadiums with his dad, again when his time off allows it.

After a successful 10-year career with Easyjet as a Cabin Crew Manager, Louise made the difficult decision to leave Easyjet due to her health concerns making full time work too difficult and instead return to Beauty Therapy. Louise lives with M.E (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), a chronic illness that already makes her daily life incredibly challenging. She joined a beauty team in Haywards Heath in February 2023.

Louise is a monthly supporter of Breast Cancer Now which allows people with breast cancer to access support from Nurses. She has donated to this incredible cause after a family diagnosis of Breast Cancer to give back for the help and care given.

They have always felt strongly about children and giving them a wonderful home to grow up in. They have both spent a long time sculpting a life that would be right to welcome a child whether this was their own or adopted. This however cannot happen as they now don’t have a safe house to raise what would be a much-loved child to complete their family.

Due to the smoke damage in the house, they have been left with nothing as everything holds the smell of smoke but also the danger of it being breathed in. They have had to remove every soft furnishing, carpets, wallpaper, replace windows and patio doors that exploded and have been left without a kitchen. We're raising funds to help cover essential cleaning and repairs to get them back on their feet as soon as possible. Every donation, no matter the size, makes a difference and will go directly toward restoring their home and providing some relief during this incredibly challenging time.

Louise and Sean are very proud people and hate the idea of having to ask for help especially with the cost of living. If you would like to help without donating, they are also looking for donations of household items and labour, please get in touch if you could offer time rather than money.

Please consider sharing or donating if you're able. Your kindness and support mean the world and will help Sean and Louise return to their home as soon as possible.