A family in Co Down are hoping to create Northern Ireland's first specialised holiday accommodation for people with disabilities and complex medical needs.
Richard Douglas, 28, was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy when he was three-and-a-half years old and has progressively lost the ability to move his body.
After 17 months of shielding, last summer Richard and his family were able to enjoy a short break in fully equipped specialised accommodation in Donegal.
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While travelling home, Richard became increasingly frustrated that due to a lack of similar facilities people with complex needs cannot experience a similar short break away from home in Northern Ireland.
Now, his family are fundraising to start a non-profit company, Hoist Assisted Holidays, that will provide a similar facility at Atlantic View Leisure Park Ltd in Ballycastle to allow those with profound disabilities - and their families - to enjoy a short break together.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Richard's mum, Sharon (53), said her son has always had a positive mindset and just wants to give other families the ability to enjoy time together away from home.
She said: "When Richard was three, there were little delays in his development, he was very unsteady on his feet and would have a lot of falls. But it just came as such devastating news to know it was such a horrific, debilitating illness.
"As he got older, he started to focus on things he could do. In his teenage years, he took up powered wheelchair football and that was great for him. He enjoyed playing pool and snooker too, but as he lost upper arm strength that also became impossible.
"As his illness progressed, the muscle weakness began to affect his heart and lungs too and he began using a ventilator to support his breathing. He had spinal surgery to correct scoliosis when he was 16 in Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. The operation was very successful however he developed life-threatening complications and spent eight weeks in hospital.
"Richard had a very long road to recovery, after that he wanted to live as full a life as possible with the help of family and carers.
"There were many things he couldn't do, but he wanted to be positive and focus on all the things he could do. He loved to go to concerts, as he loves live music, especially Snow Patrol going to all their concerts in Belfast, Bangor and Dublin.
"He also loved going to support Manchester United at Old Trafford from time to time. Outings to Windsor Park with his carer to support Northern Ireland gave him something to look forward too as well."
Sharon said that over time, "holidays became even more important" to Richard and the wider family. They found a specialised hotel abroad that provided the family with some normality.
"The specialist hotel in Tenerife had all the equipment, hoists and hospital type beds that we needed to safely meet Richards care needs," Sharon continued.
"The pool also had a hoist so we were able to get Richard from his wheelchair into the warm pool where he loved the sense of freedom this gave him, spending hours at a time in the water. When Richard became ventilator dependant we were able to hoist him into the swimming pool and have a ventilator at the side of the pool.
"Doing what he would call those 'normal things' really kept him positive and motivated, and helped him along while losing the ability to do other things.
"From our perspective profound disabilities can affect the whole family, it can be life-changing for everybody once you have somebody who needs 24 hour care.
"Sometimes even doing a simple thing like going to the shops can be difficult, you can't just drop things. Everything needs to be carefully planned. If we were going out for the day, he would need to have lots of equipment. We need our back up ventilator, spare masks, cough assist and suction machines along with oxygen in case of an emergency."
Obstacles such as a lack of specialist equipment including hoists and hospital type beds and supportive shower chairs get in the way of allowing families of those with profound disabilities to enjoy a holiday.
Describing Richard as strong-willed and fun-loving, Sharon said he's hoping to help families have a trip locally they can all remember fondly.
"We've had a lot of support from people in similar positions saying this would be of benefit to siblings of disabled children as well," Sharon added.
“Many people have commented that their only experience of having an overnight stay with their disabled child has been at the children's hospice as there just isn't the accommodation in Northern Ireland that meets everyone's needs.
"Richard's outlook is to help the whole family as well. He wants to create accommodation that is affordable where there is no additional charge for all the specialised equipment.
"It will also have additional accommodation for carers too so that families don’t have extra expense if having to pay for accommodation for their carers when family members need 24 hour care.
"It was just amazing for us to go somewhere as a family where all Richard's care needs could be met with all the equipment we needed at hand and just spend time in a really nice environment too. To be able to do something normal and to relax having some time away from home is invaluable.
"Richard has been frustrated that there's nowhere like that in Northern Ireland. As a young child he always loved spending time up in the North Coast. He was looking to see if it was possible to start something similar in that area, and we found a location in Ballycastle."
The family have said the concrete base of the site is already in place and they could have the facility up and running in a matter of months if they are able to get enough funding.
You can follow the journey of Hoist Assisted Holidays on Facebook here and Instagram here. You can also donate to the fundraiser by clicking here.
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