Disabled boy Joe can't go upstairs without his lift (From Echo)

Disabled boy Joe can't go upstairs without his lift

4:00pm Wednesday 4th July 2012 in Local News By George Thorpe

A FAMILY has been told they will have to carry a severely disabled 12-year-old up to his bedroom for the next six months, because no money can be found to fix his lift.

The lift was installed at cerebral palsy and epilepsy sufferer Joe Denton’s house in Outing Close, Southend, in 2007 to help manoeuvre the eight stone youngster directly from the living room to his bedroom.However, disaster struck two weeks ago when the lift broke down, leaving Joe’s mother Kerry, 42, and his two sisters, Kayleigh, 16, and Ella-May, 15, to haul him up and down the stairs every day.

Despite the lift being so vital to the family, officers from Southend Council have said they will not be able to fix it for about six months as they cannot get funding to pay for the repairs.

This has angered the Denton’s, who feel their son’s needs are not being taken seriously.

Mrs Denton said: “I am annoyed about the situation.

“Because of Joe’s conditions, it takes one person to pick him up from under his arms and another to pick him up from under his legs to carry him upstairs.

“It is a struggle getting him upstairs, because he weighs eight stone and can kick out because of his conditions. In the lift it would take about two minutes to get him up.

Ruth Baker, Southend Council’s interim group manager for fieldwork services, said the council was doing all it could to rectify the situation.

She said: “The family were visited by an occupational therapist last week and I can confirm that they are to make a housing application for alternative accommodation which will meet the family’s needs in the longer term.

“As an interim measure, the children with disabilities team will secure urgent funding to ensure that the lift within the family’s current home is functioning.”