Kind offer to install stairlift for free gives Lily, 17, her own bedroom back
A crowdfunding campaign to buy a stairlift for a Black Country teenager came to an early close when the company chosen to supply it offered it for free.
Acorn Stairlifts were so moved by 17-year-old Lily Smith's story that they fitted the lift in the families Cradley Heath home free of charge.
Lily first started having seizures at seven-months-old, by the time she was in her teens they were happening up to 15 times a day without warning, causing her to collapse.
After undergoing a hemispherotomy Lily's seizures have been reduced by 50 per cent, but her mobility has been seriously reduced.
A downstairs room was converted for the teenager which her parents, Vicki and Ned, shared with her for more than five years in case Lily needed help in the night.
Vicki launched an online crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds to buy a stairlift so that Lily could regain some independence and be able to access the upstairs of their home again.
One of the firms she contacted for a quote was Yorkshire-based Acorn Stairlifts, and when bosses heard Lily's story they surprised the family by offering to donate and install the stairlift completely free of charge.
Makeover
"It's been absolutely amazing," said Vicki. "People have been so generous with donations, but when Acorn offered to fit the the stairlift free of charge we couldn't believe it.
"We just wanted Lily's life to be the same as everyone else's - just a normal teenager with her own bedroom - and now it's happening."
Lily is now able to go upstairs for the first time in more than a year and is excitedly planning a makeover of her old bedroom using leftover money from the crowdfunding appeal.
Catherine Beecroft, Acorn Stairlifts' customer relations manager, said: "Lily’s is such a moving story and I’m glad we’ve been able to assist the family. Even our installer, Joe Stevenson, after meeting Lily wants to donate his bonus for the job to fund the revamp of her bedroom."
Lily's parents will also get their own upstairs bedroom back.
Vicki added: "It's going to mean such a positive change for all of us. Since Lily was small I've either slept on her bedroom floor or in our bed in her room, but now we can get back to some kind of normality."
