DIY SOS The Big Build Comes to Bangor

Doorways have donated internal Doors & Ironmongery to a deserving family from Bangor Co. Down featuring on the BBC One series DIY SOS: The Big Build. These products will be used as part of a life changing transformation to their home. 

The BIG Build...

The turn out and commitment from the N.I tradesmen makes us super proud of our customers, colleagues and our wee country! Well done to everyone. 

Here's their story....

The McCreight family in Bangor, Northern Ireland are engaging and inspiring. Mum, Mandy (46) and the two kids, Ben (16) and Kara (13) have complex health needs attended to by their main carer, dad, Davy (57), in a house that is totally unfit for the families many medical needs.

Mum, Mandy has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Postural Orthostic Tachycardia Syndrome, Fibromyalgia and Gastroparesis and she is bed bound over 80% of the time, so often stays upstairs in her bedroom for days at a time, as the stairs are too difficult to negotiate. Mandy is a power chair user but currently can’t use it at home. Mandy states’ I am completely isolated in my bedroom from the rest of my family whilst dealing with my conditions’. 

Son, Ben is working hard at school but has he has a learning disability, Autism and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. He doesn’t like to visit his mum in her bedroom, so they rarely get to spend any time together, so he spends all his time at home downstairs with his dad.

Daughter, Kara, has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and currently has only been able to attend school when her symptoms allow. She has mobility issues, chronic fatigue, she finds the house difficult to negotiate and she spends a lot time in her room.

Coping with all this, is dad Davy (now medically retired) who has a back injury, burning feet syndrome and now problems with his knees. He is registered as Mandy's full time carer and a full time dad/carer to the kids. He too is now finding the stairs very difficult but must negotiate them as Mandy needs her meals and medication. He now has to try to keep these important visits to a minimum, to try and alleviate his symptoms.

An OT assessed the home for a stair lift and a lift but unfortunately, neither were possible, given the current layout of the house. So the entire family are under real stress and the house is making the situation unbearable. Their home is not wheelchair adapted and it needs to be to future proofed for the entire family before it reaches breaking point and so that’s where the kind DIYSOS volunteers step in, to help a deserving family in need.

And in a DIYSOS first, in its 20th Anniversary year, DIYSOS is excited to be visiting Bangor, Northern Ireland and as usual the DIYSOS Build Manager is ‘Bangor boy’, Mark Millar!