Volunteers plan a life-changing home extension in Limerick town for Alex, 11

A LIMERICK plumber has begun assembling a volunteer team of tradespeople to carry out major accessibility works at the home of a child with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

He is coordinating tradespeople in a bid to convert a family home to better meet the needs of wheelchair user Alex Heaney, 11, who has lived with the progressive muscle-wasting condition since early childhood.

The planned works include alterations to the entrance of the house and a side extension with Alex's own room and a wheelchair accessible ensuite bathroom.

Alex, from Patrickswell, just turned five when he was diagnosed with Duchenne. The disease is characterised as causing progressive muscle degeneration and weakness due to a type of protein leaking from tears in muscles.

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Alex has been a full-time wheelchair user for the past two years. His stepfather, Keith Higgins, said the move into the chair marked a turning point in the family’s ability to cope in a house never designed for accessibility.

The family’s current routine involves carrying Alex multiple times a day between rooms, onto a stairlift, and up and down stairs due to the absence of a downstairs toilet or bedroom. Both parents work, and the physical demands of lifting their growing son have begun to take a toll.

“There is a big physical load in it,” Mr Higgins said. “We have different things that are happening to us, like Kate's wrist comes at her and my lower back gives out sometimes.”

“Our worries would be that at the minute, he's just confined to two rooms,” added Mr Higgins.

While the volunteer-led project is still at an early stage, the family say its impact if completed would be life-changing. “It would change everything,” said Mr Higgins. “It would make Alex's life so much easier... It would give him a proper teenage boy life where he can go and do his own thing in his own space.”