COUNTY NEWS: DIY SOS to transform disabled mum's cramped home

Amanda Worne has said she sometimes feels like a ‘prisoner in her own home’ in Yapton since breaking her spine in a cycling accident down Bury Hill in 2015.

Now presenter Nick Knowles and his DIY SOS: The Big Build team will transform her home, which she shares with her husband and four children, into a wheelchair-friendly space equipped for her and her family’s needs.

Amanda said: “This is so mega exciting. It’s a fairy tale dream come true.

“I feel like it’s every Christmas rolled into one and I think most people know I love Christmas.”

One of Amanda’s friend’s contacted the show - which is watched by up to 5 million people per episode on BBC One - while she was in Stoke Mandeville Hospital for six months, undergoing operations on her broken spine and learning to cope with her new life as a disabled person.

Amanda made national news after she posted a smiling picture of herself in hospital on her Facebook page just hours after her crash.

In the post she delivered the news to friends and family that she had been told she would never walk again, asking for her loved ones not to be sad for her.

The bake brake on her bike failed and she careered down Bury Hill, crashing into a road sign at the bottom and only being found by chance when her cries for help were heard by a cyclist coming up the hill.

And her can-do attitude has inspired many disabled and able bodied people since.

She marked the first anniversary of her crash with a tandem sky dive, has been named ambassador of a national charity, gives inspirational talks, and is even writing a book about her accident and new life.

The Observer and Gazette has reported on Amanda’s struggle to cope with even simple tasks like cooking in her cramped family house.

She has been raising money herself to fund her own pink wetroom so she can finally shower without the assistance of her husband Vic or her children.

Now, in just nine days the DIY SOS team will totally transform her home, customising it to meet all her current and future needs.

However the producers rely on the support and generosity of the local community of tradespeople and suppliers to carry out the work and Nick Knowles and the team will be coming to Amanda’s Yapton home from Tuesday, May 9 to Thursday, May 18 to do the much-needed work.

Those involved are then invited along to the ‘big reveal’, where the family is shown their new house for the first time and their reaction is filmed for the show.

A ‘trade’s day’ takes place on April 20.

Anyone who wants to help should email [email protected]

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