This is a lovely kind Christmas Story.
December 2014
Grandson is coming home for Christmas thanks to donation
A 12-year-old boy with cerebral palsy is able to return to his grandparents’ home this Christmas, providing his parents with some much-needed respite – all thanks to stairlift donation.
Most people associate stairlifts with the ageing process – a necessary step to prolong the twilight years spent at home.
But for Joshua Orme who is suffering from the debilitating condition cerebral palsy, a stairlift was the only way he could continue the tradition of sleeping at his grandparents’ Leicester home over Christmas, allowing Joshua’s grandparents to give his mum and dad a rest over the festive period. With no budget or savings, the family faced what they thought was his last ever sleepover in early January this year.
But quick–thinking great aunt, Christine Green, made everyone’s dreams come true after secretly approaching four UK stairlift suppliers to find one goodhearted enough to help the family in need, ahead of this year’s festive period.
“Joshua was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was just 21 months old,” explains Christine from Leicester. “It’s a devastating condition which means Joshua cannot walk or stand and needs help with turning at regular intervals during the night.
Ever since Josh was a baby he has visited my sister, Lin Orme, and her husband Pete every weekend for a sleepover and every Christmas the whole family gets together to spend a few days at their house. It gives his parents a much needed rest and is wonderful for the three of them to spend quality time together. The anxieties that come with the condition mean Josh won’t sleep anywhere except at home or with his grandparents, so they’ve relished the weekly stop overs.”
Over the last twelve months, Pete has struggled to carry a growing Joshua up the stairs to bed and the couple realised, to their dismay, that their sleepover days with Joshua were coming to an end.
Christine continued: “The implications of Joshua not being able to sleep at Pete and Lin’s are so far reaching. It’s devastating for everyone involved – especially Joshua, who at the age of 12 is being robbed of his routine and precious time with his grandparents. We all knew the solution would be a stairlift but between caring for Joshua and Pete and Lin’s nine–year-old granddaughter, Amelia, who has a ganglioglioma brain tumour, none of us have the budget or savings to cover the cost.
“That’s when I decided to take matters into my own hands and find someone who could help.”
Christine contacted four UK-based stairlift manufacturers and suppliers and an email she sent to Yorkshire-based Acorn Stairlifts suddenly turned everyone’s world around.
“Acorn was the only company to reply and just two days after I’d written to them, they responded to say they’d be delighted to help and sent an engineer out to assess the home. Lin cried with joy when she heard someone was willing to help – suddenly we all had hope and could see a much happier future!”
Within one week the stairlift was fitted and Joshua rode the first of many smooth and secure trips up the stairs to his bedroom and is now looking forward to continuing his weekly sleepovers with his nannie and granddad and enjoying quality time over the festive period.
Lin, a grandparent of four, added: “Acorn’s stairlift has been completely life changing for everyone. Not only does it mean Joshua can continue to stay in our care and he can spend Christmas with us without any risks to his safety or to Pete’s in trying to carry him upstairs, but with the stairlift now in place, my granddaughter Amelia, who has restricted mobility due to her brain tumour, is also able to visit us more regularly.
“Since the installation, Joshua has stayed with us even more which is wonderful for us and a tremendous help to his parents. Importantly, the stairlift has added to his sense of independence; although he still needs to be cared for, just being able to stay at our house without his parents is giving him that little bit of freedom he wouldn’t be able to enjoy otherwise – and that is so important to any growing boy.
“I want to thank Acorn from the bottom of my heart for doing this for our family, and to my fantastic sister Christine for arranging it. For a firm of Acorn’s magnitude to be so
compassionate is just wonderful. The experience from start to finish has been excellent and the benefits for Joshua will last for many years to come. The stairlift has given three generations of one family a new lease of life – I really do now believe in small miracles.
For more information please contact Jennifer Isles
