Joy as young Matthew Cooper celebrates first Christmas at revamped home

Matthew and parents Leigh and Sue were featured on DIY SOS earlier this year, as a BBC team worked to fit the family’s Trench home out for Matthew’s medical needs.

Matthew moved in back in the summer, and has since adopted two kittens and celebrated his 13th birthday.

He loves caring for the black cat brothers, dubbed Sooty and Sweep, and they took an instant liking to him back in July.

Matthew’s dad Leigh Cooper said: “He loves them to bits. As soon as we got them in the house they came up to him and jumped on his lap.

“They curled up straight away and went to sleep. It’s like it was meant to be.”

Mr Cooper says the extensive work done on their Springfield Road home has improved the care they can give Matthew.

“It makes things a lot easier having more space, we can take Matthew’s wheelchair straight in and out.

“He’s loving it here as well, being able to have his birthday and Christmas back at home is a big thing.

“His birthday was on December 15 and we had two days of celebration at the weekend.

“Matt from the Shropshire Falconry centre came over and was great. He brought some barn owls which Matthew loves and gave him his own gauntlet.”

Being back in Telford also means Matthew’s friends in the area can visit him more regularly, while a team of 13 carers from Apollo Home Healthcare work around the clock with him.

Mr Cooper added: “His friends have been so good for him. Emily comes every week to see him, and Luke comes as often as he can.

“The carers do so much for him as well. At the end of the day they’re here when we’re not, and they know as well as we do now what he likes and doesn’t like.

“We don’t want to take anything for granted, everyone has been really helpful. Thank you all so much.”

Matthew’s mum Sue says the progress he has made since being back home is encouraging, and the family plans to take big strides in 2018.

Matthew is currently home schooled, but hopes to attend the Bridge Special School in Hadley in the new year.

She said: “He has done a lot better since he’s been back home.

“He couldn’t wait for Christmas, and he’s promised me he’s going to work hard next year.

“I’m not expecting him to walk miles or anything but I want him to have independence and dignity.

“That’s what we’ll work on with his home care team and his physio.

“He can’t wait to get back to his schooling and hopefully he’ll be able to access the Bridge.

“I just want to thank everyone that worked on the house, whether that was the building work or making tea and coffee, and wish them all a merry Christmas.

“Both our workplaces, TJ Vickers and Saint Gobain, have been so supportive as well over the last three years.

“I was dreading his birthday and Christmas back in the house but he absolutely loved his birthday.

“He had a fantastic day, we had a full house all day and he never stopped smiling.

“It is strange being back for Christmas, the last one we had here Matthew was still walking and talking.

“Last Christmas he was in and out of hospital so we could never really relax.”

Matthew now has a ‘smartbox’, which lets him communicate by typing out letters to form sentences which are then spoken aloud by the box.

The home conversion was done after a fundraising campaign by Matthew’s former school.

Wrockwardine Wood Juniors and the Telford community managed to raise more than £52,000 towards renovating Matthew’s home before they got the nod that the DIY SOS Big Build team would be able to help.

The television team had just nine days in March to transform his home. in Springfield Road, Trench, Telford, with a team of 90 volunteers on site each day, giving up their services for free.

The program was broadcast on the BBC in June.

The 12-year-old had been cared for at Birmingham Children’s Hospital since August 2015 after he was diagnosed with brain and spinal cancer.