A MUM broke down in tears after the DIY SOS team transformed her house into a wheelchair accessible space for her three disabled children.
Chris, 42, and Cat Sweet live with their kids Louisa, 16, Max, 13, and Harry, seven, in Weston-Super-Mare, who all have life-limiting conditions, which are steadily getting worse.
Cat, 35, revealed her youngest, Harry, was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos syndrome at birth, which causes him severe pain in his joints, Mirror reported.
But the family were dealt further blows when in 2017 they discovered both Louisa and Max had Friedreich's Ataxia, a neurodegenerative condition which causes difficulty walking and speaking.
The family face the prospect of having to fit three wheelchairs into their home in the near future, with Cat, a full-time carer for her kids, revealing she has to carry them upstairs every night.
She said: “I don't know how that's going to work. I can't physically move my children any more.
"I'm scared that will happen before we've had the chance to do anything. We won't have anywhere to live anymore."
Cat explains Max’s condition had gone downhill considerably, with the lad developing arrhythmia, which is a dangerous rhythm of the heart.
But the family saw their lives turned around when Nick Knowles and the DIY SOS team, accompanied by an army of volunteers, transformed their home.
Their home was made accessible for wheelchairs, with a lift installed so they can get up and down the stairs without Cat’s help.
The bathroom was also made accessible for wheelchairs, and a hoist was added so the kids can easily get themselves in and out of the tub.
Their bedrooms were also fitted with hoists, allowing them to get in and out of bed with ease.
The makeover changed everything for Cat, who says the family had been “suffocating” in the house, with their situation made worse due to the fact her three children had to shield due to coronavirus.
Cat had been home-schooling the trio, as she told Nick Knowles the transformation had “changed their lives”.
The mum explained they didn’t realise anything was wrong with Louisa until she was in her teens, putting her clumsiness down to her being a ‘klutz’.
But everything changed on her 13th birthday, when they noticed she wasn’t walking properly.
A consultant delivered the news that she had Friedreich's Ataxia, and after genetic testing they realised Max also had it.
But the 13-year-old is in more danger than his sister, due to his heart, with Cat saying he’s like a “ticking time bomb”.
Cat explained there are no “pills or operations’ which can cure her children, as she sadly admitted: “One day I'm going to wake up and one of them isn't going to be here anymore, how do you compartmentalise that?"
The diagnosis had deeply affected the children, as Cat explained Louisa said she had no ‘dreams’ for the future anymore.
Speaking on the show, Cat said: “I had a conversation with Louisa, and I said to her, do you dream? Do you dream about travelling, what about a job.
“And she was like, I just don’t have any. That’s really sad.
“As children that they don’t have dreams, of anything anymore.
“So I’m hoping this will show them what the world can be like with all these people that have come out to help them. That this will give them the opportunity to dream again.”
The DIY SOS makeover did give them a different outlook on life, after seeing how the local community rallied together for them.
Cat said Louisa now had of being a mum herself one day and wanted to work with animals, while Max planned on going to university and Harry wanted to become a policeman.
Cat explained the house wasn’t just ‘bricks and mortar’, as it had given her children back their ‘hopes and dreams’.
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