The mother of twin teenage boys who have debilitating lifelong muscle condition has opened up about her fears of losing their family home. Sarah Wilson, 54, lives in Derbyshire with her sons Sam and Alex.
She is a full-time carer to the 16-year-old boys. They both have type two spinal muscular atrophy, which means they are unable to walk or sit unaided.
Sam and Alex both recently completed their GCSEs and are currently in college with hopes of going into the media industry. Now the family risk losing their adapted home as the landlord is set to sell the property.
Speaking exclusively to Derbyshire Live, Sarah Wilson said: “We rent this house and it’s a lovely house, but about eight years ago the house was adapted because the boys are power-chair users so they can’t get upstairs. The garage was adapted into a bedroom and a bathroom, and the dining room was converted into another bedroom so they have full access round the whole of the house downstairs.
“There’s been quite a bit of money spent on it to get it to the level of accessibility that the boys need.” The family started a fundraiser in the hopes of raising money for the teens to ensure they could either stay in the property, or raise enough money to pay for adaptations of a new house.
After living in the house for 13 years, the teenagers rely on their largely adapted home to keep their independence. The house has been kitted out with an adapted wet room, doors wide enough for their wheelchairs and outdoor ramps to give them access through the house.
She added: “The number of properties with permission to be adapted are very few and far between, and take some time to find and adapt. It’s not something that can happen very quickly and we’ve made this our home, and we want to stay here if we can.
“It’s nobody’s fault, it’s a set of circumstances that we’ve found ourselves in that our house that we’ve lived in for 13 years is going to be sold." Whilst Sarah explains she has no ill feelings towards her landlord, who is selling the property, she worries about the uncertainty surrounding her and her sons’ home.
Her current home gives her sons the accessibility they need, and she worries about its fate if it were to be sold to another owner. Sarah added that they are also hesitant to move as all their friends and family live nearby, along with neighbours who have supported them through the pandemic.
“At the moment I’m doing full personal care for the boys, we’ve got no carers, I work part-time, I’m self-employed, it’s nice to have people around us to support us. We want to get to a conclusion that helps everybody, gets the house sold which is the reason for the whole thing, but it’s a difficult one.
“It would affect us all massively, this property has been adapted to suit us and we’ve made it work for us, and we would need somewhere pretty much the same which will be difficult to find.” Sarah is keen to hear from anyone with fundraising ideas for the family, to help them raise some more money to help them.
Sarah’s sister Natalie, who launched the family’s fundraiser, has already planned some fundraising, but is keen to help widen the appeal’s reach. My sister came up with the idea of doing a GoFundMe page to try and raise a bit of money so we could put a deposit down and be a partial investor, or get other investors to take the property on with us as tenants,” she explained.
“We’ve had a few people head our way, it’s just making the decision about what to do and continuing to raise some money. We live in a little cul-de-sac but we’re open to anyone who has any suggestions for fundraising, and can help us stay in the house.
“As a parent, I need to make sure my children are looked after and as a family that we have a nice place to live.” You can access the family’s fundraiser here.
