Facing a terminal illness is harrowing enough without the added stress and worry of being away from your home. But a stairlift has given one man the chance to escape hospital.
Sometimes, it’s only when you’re confronted by very real, very personal stories that you realise just how big a difference a stairlift can make.
Take Dan*. Dan was in hospital with cancer. He didn’t need to be there – in fact he and his wife Chloe wanted nothing more than to have him home again. But Dan couldn’t come home because he couldn’t make it up and down stairs without assistance.
It was a friend of Dan and Chloe’s who first called us. To take some of the strain off Chloe, Graham had offered to ring round stairlift suppliers who could a) supply the right curved stairlift for Dan, and b) install it fast.
After speaking with Leodis’ Martin, Graham decided he’d found the right people for the job. He reported back to Chloe, saying he’d spoken with a supplier who sounded like “a good lad.”
We surveyed Chloe and Dan’s home in Market Weighton early the next day and, with Chloe eager to press ahead, arranged installation of a reconditioned curved stairlift for the following morning. Next day, we set to work. By 1pm, the stairlift was installed and working, all ready for Dan’s return.
As you can imagine, this is a bittersweet tale. Much as we’d like, we can’t pretend that Dan’s stairlift has changed his prognosis. Nor can it change the fact that Dan, Chloe and Graham all have tough times ahead.
But by taking just 18 hours from first phone call to hoovering up after ourselves, we were able to make one small but vital difference: Dan was back in his own home by weekend.
If you know someone who’s facing a similar situation, we’d love to help. You can get in touch with us here.
*We’ve changed Dan, Chloe and Graham’s names in this piece to preserve their privacy.
