The Sweet family in Weston-super-Mare are happy and truly inspirational in their close-knit community. Louisa (14), Max (11) and Harry (6) were born healthy, and family life was good until Harry was diagnosed with a genetic condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. He is significantly hypermobile and suffers terrible pain in his joints, unsettled sleep and chronic constipation as part of his condition. He is also being assessed for autism.\n\nThe family had been struggling with Harry’s health issues for three years when, in 2017, after genetic testing, Louisa and Max were diagnosed with Friedreich's ataxia, a rare and life-limiting neurodegenerative condition for which there is currently no treatment or cure. It will see them become permanent full-time wheelchair users in their teens, and it may affect their speech, fine motor skills and vision. They also have enlarged hearts and spinal scoliosis, and suffer fatigue as part of their condition, but like Harry they are children to be truly admired. Amazingly, Max, who is also being assessed for autism, has stated that if he dies he wants to donate his organs to save other children, but his mother Cat just can’t face filling in the forms.\n\nCat can no longer lift the children in and out of the bath or carry them up the stairs. Louisa and Max only manage the stairs by carefully and painfully crawling on all fours, which takes considerable time and effort. Both of the boys are already part-time wheelchair users, and their tiny home will soon have to accommodate three wheelchairs. \n\nAll three children now struggle with basic normal life at home, unable to undertake simple tasks without help, and with Louisa rapidly losing her teenage independence instead of gaining it, despite the immense love and care from their inspirational parents Cat and Chris, DIY SOS and kind local volunteers are stepping up to help this truly deserving family.
Source: BBC 1
Strictly Special
In a special episode, DIY SOS partner up with Strictly Come Dancing to bring some sparkle to a performing arts school in Wallsend, North Tyneside. Nick Knowles and his team set ...
15-04-2024
BBC 1
Eastenders Special
In a heart-warming episode for Christmas, DIY SOS partner with the stars of EastEnders to bring volunteers together to support a mental health community project in Harlow, Essex.
02-01-2024
BBC 1
Children In Need Special 2023
In their tenth build for BBC Children in Need, DIY SOS partner up with Radio 2 to build a bespoke counselling and therapy centre for bereaved young people in Risley, Derbyshire. ...
19-11-2023
BBC 1
Series 32: 4. The Big Build - Stoke
Sue’s family have lived in Fegg Hayes, Stoke, for six generations. To help tackle issues of food poverty, isolation and mental health in the area, she set up a charity, Sy ...
03-10-2023
BBC 1
Series 32: 3. The Big Build - Longframlington
Ex-fireman Gareth and his wife Mary live with their three children just north of Morpeth in Northumberland. Their 18-year-old daughter Bobbie has complex medical and mental heal ...
13-09-2023
BBC 1
Series 31: 5. The Big Build - Bangor
For the first time ever, the DIY SOS team head to Bangor in Northern Ireland, the childhood hometown of our build manager Mark Miller, to help the McCreight family.\n\nMandy McC ...
10-07-2023
BBC 1
Series 31: 3. The Big Build - Carbis Bay
Nick Knowles, his trusty DIY SOS team and hundreds of kind volunteers renovate the home of three orphaned boys in Cornwall. \n\nAfter 15 years of fostering 103 children, Steph ...
03-07-2023
BBC 1
Series 32: 1. The Big Build - Kettering
Midwife Lindsey married ex-Royal Engineer Shaun in 2019. Lindsey had two children from a previous marriage and then had two boys with Shaun. In the summer of 2021, they began to ...
21-02-2023
BBC 1
The Big Build For Children In Need
In this Children in Need special, the DIY SOS team joins forces with Radio 2 for a mega build in Leeds. Nick Knowles and his team set to work to transform a derelict site into a ...
20-11-2022
BBC 1
Series 31: 4. The Big Build - Weston-super-mare
The Sweet family in Weston-super-Mare are happy and truly inspirational in their close-knit community. Louisa (14), Max (11) and Harry (6) were born healthy, and family life was ...
27-09-2022
BBC 1
Strictly Special
In a special episode, DIY SOS partner up with Strictly Come Dancing to bring some sparkle to a performing arts school in Wallsend, North Tyneside. Nick Knowles and his team set ...
15-04-2024
BBC 1
Series 28: 6. Veteran Street
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.\n\nTwo years ago, with the help of Princ ...
14-05-2020
BBC 1
Children In Need Special 2021
The DIY SOS team are joined by guest presenter Rhod Gilbert in Brandesburton, near Hull, as they embark on an adventurous build in aid of BBC Children in Need.\n\nThe team and k ...
20-11-2021
BBC 1
Series 31: 7. The Big Build - Corby
Jordan Hutchison is an inspirational teenager. He has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, but this has not stopped him defying expectations and raising huge sums of money for charity. ...
15-06-2022
BBC 1
Series 29: 5. The Big Build - Mildenhall
Nick Knowles and the DIY SOS volunteers help Simon Dobbin in Mildenhall, Suffolk - a loving father, husband and football fan whose life suddenly changed forever in March 2015. A ...
28-01-2019
BBC 1
Series 25 - The Big Build - Warrington
Home renovation series. Nick Knowles and the DIY SOS team head to Warrington to help an electrician who suffered a massive stroke which left him partially paralysed.
11-09-2014
BBC 1
Series 31: 3. The Big Build - Carbis Bay
Nick Knowles, his trusty DIY SOS team and hundreds of kind volunteers renovate the home of three orphaned boys in Cornwall. \n\nAfter 15 years of fostering 103 children, Steph ...
03-07-2023
BBC 1
Series 31: 5. The Big Build - Bangor
For the first time ever, the DIY SOS team head to Bangor in Northern Ireland, the childhood hometown of our build manager Mark Miller, to help the McCreight family.\n\nMandy McC ...
10-07-2023
BBC 1