I need some help with funding an installation of a wheelchair accessible shower wet room & ramp access to the front & back of the bungalow. I’ve always wanted to live by the sea & find it easier to breath fresh sea air. I have severe brittle asthma which despite taking every asthma med available, i still have numerous severe asthma attacks & had many stays in intensive care. It was after another admission where I had to be vented, my husband & I decided we should follow my dream. Having so many severe asthma attacks & allergic anaphylactic reactions makes you realise how short & unpredictable life can be. So we started our property search. I also use a wheelchair because of a spinal injury so finding a suitable property wasn’t easy. & because of a limited budget we had to buy a bungalow that wasn’t wheelchair accessible. With the plan to make it accessible and to rent it as a wheelchair holiday bungalow when we aren’t using it. To help pay the mortgage & running costs. Due to having many other complex medical conditions & having expensive medication, equipment & care funded by my local nhs moving permanently to Devon is not possible because the funding is not available.We have been trying to fund the renovations our selves, but we have run out of money. Unforeseen delays, water leaks & broken piping inside & out, boiler breaking down & needing replaced, have meant the money we saved to make the bathroom & shower which is not wheelchair accessible, into an accessible shower room has been used up. We can’t rent out the bungalow as the shower is too unsafe for anyone. Suddenly goes boiling hot & freezing cold & has a large step up into the shower cubicle. The room has a concrete floor & instead of digging into the concrete someone has just placed the cubicle on top of the floor, resulting in the large step up. We also need to build wheelchair ramps to access the bungalow. Buy equipment to help transfers such as hoists, rise & recline chair, electric bed with an air mattress. All essential but expensive pieces of equipment but needed in everyday life when you have very limited mobility.
There are only a few wheelchair accessible holiday places & not many of these have accessible showers or other specialist equipment. So many wheelchair using people either don’t go on holiday or if they do then they can’t have a shower, have to take their own ramps & equipment. This has been my own experience of holiday properties. So along with wanting to spend more time by the sea I would like the bungalow to be used when I can’t be there. Due to the lack of truly accessible holiday accommodation.
Unfortunately we have used up all our savings, my husband has been working full time & taken over my care due to one of my carers being off sick long term & lack of carers. I’ve had another run of bad health & hospital admissions, so not been able to set up an on line shop selling my digital art work as originally planned. I still hope to be able to do this but need to recover a little from my last itu admission. If we could get some help to fund the shower wet room installation & ramps into the bungalow then I could have a lovely relaxing holiday. I’ve promised a couple of friends who also have medical conditions & mobility problems & their families a weeks holiday as they both have also been having bad times health wise ,& haven’t been able to fund a holiday for a long time. We will have to rent out the bungalow as an accessible holiday let as need some money to pay the mortgage & other costs, but can’t do this until the renovations have been completed. Any other money made will be used to fund more equipment & specialist furniture. Also upgrade the kitchen to make it accessible with adjustable height work surfaces, hob, sink & cup boards.