This is a list of episodes of the BBC One show DIY SOS And DIY SOS The Big Build. The first episode aired on BBC One on 7 October 1999 and it has run for 242 episodes over 32 series.
Finish the improvements to Scott and Gemma's house, made necessary after Gemma suffered a brain tumour, the project having been started by Scott himself.
Build a separate play area for Merrilee and Chris's two-year-old daughter Mia, made necessary due to the lack of space caused by the equipment required to treat her cystic fibrosis.
Renovate the bedroom and en-suite bathroom for Maria and Barrie; they had been making slow progress on their house ever since the birth of their quadruplets, four and a half years previously.
Create a multi-functional room with an eco-friendly heating system for John and Maaike in their house located inside a former telephone exchange; they had begun renovations themselves, but work had stopped after Maaike was diagnosed with osteonecrosis in 2003.
Complete an extension to create a media lounge for Stuart and his three boys; having begun the project himself, work stopped at the shell stage, after the death of his wife Hilary.
Completion of an open plan lounge and diner for Sarah, Paul and daughter Caitlin; Paul had begun the work but after suffering kidney failure three years previously, the room had remained as a bare brick room.
Completion of a kitchen diner for single mother-of-two Yvette; had begun the work herself but had suffered a back complaint for most of it, leaving the room unfinished and without electricity.
Complete the conversion of Elisa and Andy's garage into a playroom for their daughter Molly, who has Downs Syndrome; they had begun the project six years previously but made little progress.
Complete a kitchen diner for Phil's family, whose son has the condition PKU; Phil had done some work on the rest of the house, but found the kitchen too daunting.
Complete the two bedroom extension for Kevin and Tracey; having begun the project themselves for daughters Kirsty and Imogen, they suffered the loss of Imogen at fifteen months, and had since had another baby, David, all of which had impacted on the project schedule, which had also gone over budget.
Complete the lounge of Craig and Vicky's house, the last room of the couple's renovations, which had experienced problems and come to a halt after the money ran out; completion would allow the couple to move out of their temporary home with Vicky's mum.
Complete a bathroom extension for Mark and Vicky, made necessary by their eight-year-old son's brain tumour which has confined him to a wheelchair; they had begun the work themselves, but a flood caused by a burst water pipe set the project back.
Completion of a children's bedroom and play area for the Harris family; the project having been begun by the family themselves, but was set back after a leaking sewer flooded the house.
Finish an open-plan kitchen-diner for the Harris family, made necessary by their youngest daughter's medical condition which means she cannot be left unattended; the family had begun the project themselves, but work had not progressed beyond knowing down the dividing wall.
Complete the conversion of a garage into a kitchen for Paul and Pauline, made necessary by their growing family, now numbering six children including a daughter with Down's syndrome and twins with learning difficulties; they had begun the project themselves, but ran out of money.
Complete an open plan kitchen for Carrie and Rob's house, their failed efforts to do it themselves having resulted in Carrie moving in with her mother.
Convert Kerry and Jacquie's garage into a downstairs bathroom, made necessary after the former window cleaner became confined to a wheelchair after falling 25 feet from a ladder.
Complete a kitchen for Neil and Leslie, whose front wall had collapsed after Neil had mistakenly dug too far while building an extension, resulting in Leslie and their children having to move out while he rebuiltl four walls
Convert a loft for Sharon, building a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom to allow her 17-year-old autistic son Perry a degree of independence; the project had been begun by the family, with Perry not having had his own bedroom before.
Create an Indonesian-themed lounge for Debbie and her 8-year-old son, Tyler; Debbie having a heart condition which prevents her doing the work herself.
Completion of the double-storey extension of Lisa and Andy's home, who also have a son, Jordan; begun by Andy two years previously, work had to be stopped after Lisa's diagnosis of brain cancer.
Completion of a cricket themed kitchen/diner/lounge area in the Barker family's bungalow; begun by the family themselves three years previously the project had been beset by a series of disasters.
Renovation of the lounge of Emma's house; having bought a run down property, the original plan of Emma and her father doing it up themselves had to be abandoned due to injuries he suffered in a motorbike accident. Completion of the project allows Emma and nine-year-old son to move out of her parents home into the property.
Renovate a kitchen/lounge of Gary and Andrea's historic but run down cottage; plans to do it themselves had been thwarted by various problems over the previous seven years, leaving them living in an adjacent caravan.
Complete a lounge and diner for the Curry family who have a two-year-old son; their own efforts at performing a simple renovation had gone wrong over the course of two years.
Renovation of Lucy and Mario's kitchen and dining area, required to be medically clean as a result of their daughters brain tumour. The couple had previously been renovating the house themselves.
Improvement to Ray and Linda's house, grandparents and guardians to fourteen year old twins Nathan and Chelsea; conversion of a toy room into a dining room, and renovation of a bedroom for Chelsea and the garden.
Renovation of three bedrooms for Cristina, Daniella and Sophia, daughters of Stephen and Fillippa; Stephen having failed to take on the job of completing an extension and renovation after falling out with the builder.
In a half hour episode, Nick Knowles's crew begins one project, while the choice of a second project for Lowri Turner's team to complete is put to the public vote, from a choice of three.
Hour long special rescuing ex-pat projects, including the bedroom conversion of a 15th-century farmhouse's grain store, and the child bedroom conversion of an old kitchen
Remodelling of a street in Manchester to provide accommodation and career re-training facilities for two war veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and are now suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); other veterans will also benefit from the facilities on a day visit basis.
Nick Knowles and the team join forces with two world-famous British institutions, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show, to transport Chris Beardshaw's gold medal-winning garden across London, crane it over buildings and rebuild it on the hospital's roof. For hundreds of families, Great Ormond Street Hospital has become a second home. For parents that means being by their child's bedside around the clock, and for children, it results in a constant treadmill of appointments and treatments. When Rosie was just two years old, her heart began to fail. Great Ormond Street Hospital doctors diagnosed her with restrictive cardiomyopathy, an extremely rare condition affecting just one in a million children, where the heart is too weak to pump blood. Rosie has had an operation to fit a mechanical heart while she awaits a donor, and so she needs intensive around-the-clock care with her mother consistently by her side. Maisy has epidermolysis bullosa, known as butterfly syndrome, which is an agonising skin disorder where the body lacks the protein it needs to hold the layers of skin together, making it blistered and as fragile as a butterfly's wing. It is such a rare and serious condition that Great Ormond Street Hospital specialists have been looking after her since birth. Despite the brilliant world-class care, there is nowhere private outside for the families to escape from the constant noise, bustle and bright lights of this huge hospital. The DIY SOS team and Chris Beardshaw have taken on this hugely ambitious build, with tricky logistics and emotional volunteers, in order to offer the many brave families a bespoke and lush calming rooftop garden as a space of welcome respite.
Nick Knowles, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and the trusty purple shirts venture north to Blackpool to tackle this year's most ambitious build in DIY SOS: Million Pound Build for BBC Children in Need. This special DIY SOS is set to capture the nation's heart as Nick and the team highlight the plight of the nation's 250,000 young carers who care on a daily basis for their parents. Blackpool Carers Trust provides limited out-of-school respite and training activities as well as peer support for young carers, and their current centre is bursting at the seams. The Blackpool Carers Trust, which is supported with funding from BBC Children in Need, provides much-needed support to young carers like 11-year-old Tyanna and ten-year-old Gracie who bathe and generally care for their ill mother, former nurse Suzanne who was diagnosed with osteoporosis, but also their dad Sean who is dealing with cancer. The Carers Trust has inherited a broken, enormous build which sees a dramatic reinvention of a huge overgrown garden and run-down, neglected building into an unrecognisable, inspiring and colourful base for youths with caring responsibilities. It's all done in the cheeky DIY SOS spirit which includes an attempt on their very own 'most selfies in three minutes' for a Guinness World Record!
DIY SOS is back on veteran street in Manchester to build the final home on the road for a decorated former soldier and his young family. Two years ago, with the help of Prince William and Prince Harry, DIY SOS launched their most ambitious project yet - transforming a derelict street into a vibrant community for veterans and local people, creating new homes and a veterans' support centre. Now, with the project almost complete, Nick Knowles and the team return to build the last remaining home for amputee and single dad Simon Flores, whose foot was blown off by a roadside bomb during a patrol in Iraq.
The team descend on Swansea to build a centre and supported housing for young people in care and leaving care. This special episode shares the stories from some of Wales's most vulnerable young people as well as the founder of the Roots Foundation Wales, a charity part-funded by BBC Children in Need that supports young people in and leaving care.
Complete the extension of Liz's house, made necessary by her son James' special needs; having gone into debt to pay for the work, it had been started in July 2008 but abandoned unfinished and unsafe by the builders six months later.
Renovate the home of social work student Lorraine and her three children; left in a half finished state, the house lacks a communal area for the family to spend time together
Completion of a kitchen extension on Ceri's former council house, a project he had begun himself but had to stop after redundancy and debilitating illness; as a result the family's three teenage daughters had spent two years living with their grandparents in their two bedroom flat.
Making good the destruction caused by rogue builders on Mike's house; he had invested his life savings on the work, the need for which had become evident after his 16-year-old son suffered an asthma attack while visiting, caused by the damp conditions of the aged flint built building.
Complete the two-storey extension of Kathy's home, where she lived with her two teenage children. The work had been started by husband and father Shaun in 2007, who after a year had completed it up to roof level, before committing suicide after losing his job.
Add an extension and modify Sue's two-storey home, made necessary after her eldest son Jay's brain injury suffered during a rugby match in March 2009; having spent a year in a coma in hospital, on waking, his return home to live with his mother and two siblings was conditional on the necessary change (adding a downstairs bedroom, wet room and space for a wheelchair) being approved by carers.
Completion of an extension to Micheal's home; a builder by trade he had begun the task after his son-in-law's multiple sclerosis had meant he had to start using a wheelchair, but had to stop when Micheal himself was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Reconfigure the family home of sixteen-year-old Kieron, who had had a heart transplant and a double amputation due to a heart condition, only diagnosed after he collapsed in December 2009; for the past year his situation had meant the family had to live apart.
Completion of the renovation of Haydn's house; bought at auction in 2004 he had begun the work himself, but had to abandon it shortly after following a terminal diagnosis of abdominal cancer; as a result Haydn, his wife and three daughters were having to live out of the one room he had managed to finish.
Complete the extension and renovation of Leslie and Maria's former council house, which they had begun themselves but had to stop after just a year in 2007 after running out of money and later enduring various other crises, including one of their children to miss nearly a year of schooling through ill health.
Extending and renovating single-mother Louise's post war prefab house, which she had been working on until her son was diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
Completion of the conversion of music teacher Ian and Morny's two-bedroom bungalow into a four-bedroom house to suit the family's various needs, which included one of their children having learning difficulties and Morny's chronic long-term illness; Ian had begun the work himself, but had soon been overwhelmed.
Completion of an extension to Lisa and Richard's house, whose daughter Madison was born with a heart defect and a rare eating disorder necessitating 24 hour care; a builder by trade Richard had begun the task himself but had not got beyond erecting the basic shell.
Completion of the two-storey breeze block shell of a house being built by David for him and his eight-year-old daughter, Erica. He had begun the project himself, but work came to a halt after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, and his wife and Erica's mother died in 2010. As a result, David and Erica had been living in a caravan next to the shell since 2006.
Improvements to the terraced house of Eric, wife Davina and their three daughters, made necessary by Eric's terminal diagnosis of motor neuron disease.
Renovation of Sue's country cottage, home to her and her two young children, which has become dilapidated in the years since the sudden death of Sue's partner Barry from a heart attack on Christmas Day 2003.
Completion of an extension to Wayne and Joanne's house, made necessary to care for their three children, who all have the inherited condition Fragile X Syndrome; they had begun the task themselves a year earlier, but were unable to complete the job.
Completion of an extension to Paul and Sarah's small bungalow; they had begun it themselves but had to abandon the work after their young son Joshua was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of liver cancer.
Expansion of single mother Julie's house, made necessary after she fulfilled her childhood friend Caroline's last will and testament wish by becoming legal guardian to her five younger children (aged seven to thirteen in 2013), expanding her family which already consisted of three sons (aged 15 to 20). Caroline had died from an inoperable brain tumour in June 2010, while her husband David had died suddenly from a brain haemorrhage just six months earlier.
Completion of the extension of Neil and Rebecca's house; they had embarked on the work themselves as their family grew, but had to stop after Neil was made redundant and their youngest child was diagnosed with autism.
A single-storey extension and upgrades to Hanna and Mike's small family home, made necessary after their youngest two of three children, twin boys, were born prematurely, resulting in one having cerebral palsy and the other being profoundly deaf.
Improvements to the terrace home of former British Army engineer and parachutist Mo, which was no longer suitable for his and his family's needs; having been medically discharged after 20 years service due to prolonged and continuous damage to his knees, his condition had deteriorated to the point where he could no longer walk unaided and was in near constant pain.
Completion and upgrading of an extension of Paul's two bedroom house to house his large family, which he was performing himself before his wife died shortly after she gave birth to their sixth child.
This was the biggest single house project of the show so far, and was hampered by blizzard conditions.
Improvements to the home of eight-year-old Dakota, who was born with quadriplegic cerebral palsy; the resulting increase in mobility is expected to increase her life expectancy of just 15 years.
Completion of upgrades to Michelle and Rod's house, made necessary due to the disabilities suffered by their six-year-old daughter Maddie as a result of a rare brain disease; they had begun the project themselves two years previously but had encountered unforeseen problems which meant they were living in just two rooms.
Extension of John and June's house, made necessary after June contracted a brain infection in 2010 and has been confined to a hospital bed in the kitchen ever since, unable to walk or talk.
Completion and upgrading of improvements to the 18th Century home of Rob and Michelle, which they were doing up themselves until their son Noah was born with spina bifida and only two per cent of his brain.
A two-storey extension to the house of firefighter Colin and his wife Clare, made necessary by the February 2012 diagnosis of their eldest son Christopher, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Improvements to electrician Dave's house after he was left partially paralysed by a stroke, leaving him confined to a hospital bed in the kitchen of the house he shares with his wife and two daughters.
Improvements to former hospital worker Jason and cardiac nurse Effie's two floor house, which is no longer suitable for them and their two children after Jason was left visually impaired, paralysed down one side and with limited speech after a motorcycle accident.
Improvements to Helen's small three bedroom semi-detached house to allow fifteen year old Jack, born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, to sleep upstairs, and enable the family to spend more time together (Jack also having an elder brother, Dan).
Improvements to Scott and Jenny's two-up, two-down end-of-terrace house, to allow their 13-year-old son Charlie, who was born with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and global developmental delay, to remain with the family alongside his two older and two younger brothers.
This was the biggest single house project of the show so far, involving a rebuild of the entire downstairs and remodeling of the rest.
Addition of a self-contained apartment alongside Frank and Christine's two-bedroom bungalow so that they can care for their 35-year-old son Mark, who requires 24 hour care after suffering severe brain damage and paralysis as a result of an unprovoked attack in April 2012; for the past two years he had been living in a care home 15 miles.
Improvements to Liz and Jason's house, which Jason was improving before being diagnosed with the genetic condition Fabry's disease and also later motor neurone disease, giving him just years to live; this will allow Jason to continue to live with his family, and allow Liz to care for their daughters, who also have the genetic condition.
Improvements to 41-year-old father Mark's home to allow him to better recover from cancer, and give the family more space to care for their identical twins Katie and Emelia, born with achondroplasia.
Improvements to the inadequate home of Sam and Ben, who are struggling to find time to both work as paramedics and raise their two sons, one of whom, five year old Ewan, has special needs.
Improvements to former police officer Richard and Jude's home, which is no longer suitable for them and their three sons, Harry, nine, Oscar, seven and Archie, four, after Richard suffered a brainstem stroke in June 2012 and has only partially recovered after being locked-in for nine months, now being confined to an electric wheelchair with limited speech and movement.
The DIY SOS team is back and in Birmingham helping a family in need. Charlotte and Chris have twins who were born prematurely and have a condition known as global development delay. It is a condition which has slowed down their progress of walking and talking. Their cramped house is hindering their progress even more, and if they have any chance of catching up, they're going to need DIY SOS and a host of volunteers from the local community to rebuild their lives and give the family a better future.
Completion of the renovation of former firefighter Joe's two bedroom two floor cottage; he had begun it himself before being hampered by an injury which meant he had to leave the fire service, and also a lack of funds due to flooding of the site. He also had to deal with the death of his wife from leukemia in 2014 shortly into the build. Completion would allow Joe and his 7-year-old daughter Lisa to move out of the caravan they had been living in on the site.
The team are in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, with DIY SOS going for Paralympic gold to help build a home fit for a champion. Seventeen-year-old Scott Jones is a young disabled athlete who is already a world champion and who is eager to be self-sufficient at home. But the house's current design is proving challenging. The DIY SOS team's ambitious build is a large side and rear extension to provide Scott with his own bespoke bedroom, wet room, access to an adapted kitchen and, most importantly an amazing, state-of-the-art gym studio set in the garden to help him achieve his dream of going to Tokyo 2020. As ever, it is an immensely challenging build, so will the DIY SOS team be winners in Scott's eyes once the home is renovated?
Rachel and Andy Smith's middle child Isaac has spastic quadriplegia, a severe form of cerebral palsy and Andy or Rachel must be available at all times to care for him because he sleeps fitfully in a hospital bed in the family living room. It's making family life stressful including for Isaac's siblings as the design of their home is in conflict with what this family really need. The DIY SOS team and hundreds of volunteers turn the Smiths' lives around by building an amazing extension and a beautifully landscaped garden.
Nick Knowles, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and hundreds of Worcestershire volunteer builders rescue 17-year-old Antonia Payne-Cheney, who has been kept prisoner in hospital for the last three years by Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a debilitating and rare condition. Until 14 she was a healthy girl, enjoying gymnastics and cheerleading, but now she is hospital bed-bound. Her joints regularly dislocate and she is unable to eat normally, so she is fed through a line directly into her heart. As a result of her complex condition, Antonia will remain in hospital until the necessary home adaptations have been made. To give Antonia the freedom to return home, the ambitious DIY SOS build features a functional sterile space for medical procedures in her own bespoke bedroom, a specially adapted wet room that offers her freedom and dignity and an accessible space for her to socialise with family and her friends. As ever, it's an immensely challenging build carried out over the hottest week of the year, so sweat and tears flow in this emotional and entertaining episode.
When 36-year-old Terry Guest, father of two daughters, had a catastrophic brain injury, he was left with severe disabilities. As his house was unsuitable for him, the only care available was an old-people's dementia care home, where he remained for several years. In need of more day-to-day care and a place of his own, his sister Tracey stepped in to offer help, but her house was also unsuitable. Now DIY SOS and their team of generous South Yorkshire volunteers and suppliers are stepping in to adapt Tracey's home and also, in a DIY SOS first, build Terry his very own separate pad at the end of the garden. Battling adverse Yorkshire weather, the team's electrician Billy's tricks with the electrics and a massive misjudgement in ordering materials, this unique build definitely tests the team's resolve.
Nick Knowles, Laurence Llewelyn Bowen and hundreds of Warwickshire volunteer builders help Chloe, whose cramped family living room has been her prison for the last two years. When Chloe was 18 years old, doctors diagnosed her with mastocytosis, a rare genetic disorder. As a result, Chloe now requires constant access to oxygen, must be fed through a tube in her chest and is prone to seizures that cause her joints to dislocate and stop her breathing. Chloe currently lives with her mum Susie, stepdad Phil and stepbrother Josh, but the current design of this tired house means her future in the family home is not guaranteed. So to improve Chloe's life and future-proof her care and accommodation, the DIY SOS team redesign the entire house to provide Chloe with independence, thanks to her own self-contained apartment, complete with bedroom, wet room and sitting room. As ever, it's a challenging but fun build, with mismeasurements aplenty and a barrister volunteering as a barista - so at least there's good coffee on site!
In Monmouthshire, Nick and the team help Charlotte, who's fighting to recover from a stroke she had giving birth to her twin boys Teddy and Fox. Charlotte's stroke left her with brain damage, speech loss and partial paralysis but finally after months of intensive rehab, she is back home with husband Rob and the boys. Physically, she is slowly teaching herself to walk and battling hard to regain her speech. Her other battle is with the design of the house, as the cramped, cluttered rooms are unsafe for Charlotte to move around and there's nowhere for her to do her physio, hampering her recovery. That's where DIY SOS step in. Building a home will bring this fractured family together and help Charlotte get better, but it's going to take an army of volunteers and as ever they've got just nine highly stressed days.
The Isle of Sheppey in Kent is home to an extraordinary family - two boys and two girls brought together by two dads. Head teacher Garry and social carer Kyle first fostered then adopted four vulnerable children, three with complex special needs, because they wanted to give them the best life possible. Unfortunately their tired, crammed three-bed bungalow now threatens their family's future. They desperately need space and dignity, but the only thing to do is to knock the entire house down and start again. Enter Nick Knowles and the team, who are taking on a DIY SOS first - and one of their most ambitious home builds ever. The team are going to demolish the bungalow and in just nine days build an entirely new bespoke five-bedroom home for this inspiring family. It is all thanks to the amazing goodwill, hard work and generosity of the local community and trades. Garry and Kyle first adopted Haydn, who has cerebral palsy, and then Curtis, who was adopted at four months old and is severely epileptic, blind and prone to life-threatening chest infections and also has cerebral palsy.
The two dads then fostered sisters Bella, who was six, and Phoebe, who was one. Bella has Down's syndrome, so when there was a hint that the sisters may be split up, they decided to offer a lifeline to both girls and applied to adopt. Taking on four children with so many needs is a challenge for any family, but living in a tiny bungalow is another hurdle, and every room is bursting with medical supplies. Haydn is now 13 and a growing lad, and he needs some independence. He can't get out of the front door without somebody helping him. Curtis, now six, has the greatest medical needs and sleeps in the living room, which is also their dining room.
Bella is now 11 but has a makeshift bedroom in the boot room, and they all share just one toilet in the only bathroom. The flimsy structure and impractical design of the house means it is best to demolish the property, but that's an enormous undertaking. Garry and Kyle have built an amazing family - now DIY SOS and their team of volunteer trades have an almighty challenge, never before attempted on the programme, to build an entirely new home in just nine days
Kidney failure has meant that midwife Sascha has to endure intensive dialysis at hospital just to stay alive. This intense dialysis for hours on end, five days a week, places her body under immense stress with the constant threat of life-risking blood clots. If this continues, Sascha, a mother to four children, has a life expectancy of just a few years. However, Sascha could do self-dialysis daily from her home, and the increase in frequency and the decrease in intensity would mean her life expectancy and lifestyle would improve dramatically. So that is where DIY SOS and the generous volunteers and trades of Billy's home turf, Welwyn Garden City, step up to help one of their own. In an emotionally charged episode, Sascha's family home is completely renovated and extended to include a dedicated home-dialysis room for Sascha, which offers her a lifeline and extra years with her loving family.
In Shropshire, three amazing school children and an energetic head teacher inspire the DIY SOS team and hundreds of volunteers to help 12-year-old Matthew return home from hospital for the first time in three years, after suffering cancer and a stroke. Matthew has yearned to return home, but as his house is completely unsuitable for his complex medical needs and equipment, he is stuck in hospital. His schoolmates fundraised wherever they could and campaigned to get Matthew home. Now the DIY SOS team join their crusade. With a Doctor Who-inspired interior design, enormous community spirit and the power of friendship, this is a DIY SOS Big Build to inspire.
Twenty-four-year-old Ryan has spent the last five years in a hospital room, 50 miles away from home and his loving family. At the time, warehouse worker Dave Pollard and checkout operator Rachel were happily living in a small three-bedroom house in south Bristol, filled to the brim with their four kids - Ryan, Jason, Darren and Gemma. Then the family's busy lives came to a screeching halt. After serious headaches five years ago, Ryan was rushed in for an emergency operation where doctors discovered he had a blocked ventricle. A CT scan revealed that the build-up of fluid and pressure had caused brain damage. Ryan had lost control of his breathing, swallowing and was partially paralysed. He was transferred to the nearest specialist neurological unit, 50 miles away. Five years later, he's still there and his loving mother Rachel catches public transport for five hours every day to visit Ryan. This family is torn apart. The house needs a downstairs extension with all the bespoke care provision that Ryan will need: physio space, wet room, family space and the ability to access the entire ground floor. If the family doesn't get this work done, Ryan will remain in hospital. They need the DIY SOS team and the generous volunteers of Bristol help to get Ryan home.
Amanda, mother of four and wife to local builder Vic, was training on her bicycle for an iron man when her brakes failed on Bury Hill, West Sussex. Travelling at 40 mph, she lost control and smashed into a signpost which catapulted her into bushes. The enormous impact meant Amanda broke 11 bones, punctured a lung and snapped her collarbone and her back. In vast pain, Amanda lay there motionless and described the sensation 'like my spinal fluid was leaking from my body'. It was two hours before Amanda was found by another cyclist. On arrival at A&E, she was told that she had been left paralysed. That evening, a national newspaper featured her selfie from the hospital with a beaming smile advising friends: 'I don't want to make anyone sad or upset but I'm not going to walk again', and she was determined to continue to compete as a para-athlete.
With husband Vic now tending to the four children, Amanda spent the next six months at Stoke Mandeville spinal unit. Even during her darkest days at the unit, she would help to feed other patients to keep busy and to remind herself that - in her mind - it could have been worse for her. After two gruelling 12-hour back operations, she returned home in a wheelchair. Her home was now unsuitable, so that is where the DIY SOS volunteers come to the family's rescue.
Midwife Lindsey married ex-Royal Engineer Shaun in 2016. Lindsey had two children from a previous marriage and then had two boys with Shaun. In the summer of 2021, they began to extend their house, with a local builder working with them to put in the foundations, walls and roof, and to get the extension up to first fix. The plan was for Shaun to finish the build himself.
Several months after starting the build, Shaun fell ill. Initially, he had an operation on his kidneys and bowel, but within months he was struck down by an aggressive cancer and tragically died In November 2021. Lindsey and her four are devastated, and their grief is compounded by the fact that their home is currently uninhabitable.
But help is on hand as the DIY SOS team, along with designer Gabrielle Blackman and hundreds of local trades, volunteers and some of Shaun's old army buddies, step in to finish the job and get this lovely family back home.
