Thanks so much for visiting my website! I cannot talk or communicate, so my dad made this website for me, to tell my story.
To donate, go straight to my GoFundMe page or use the widget below.
Love, Mo
I’ve been in the media a bit - find out more below!
My identical twin James and I were born in 2004, 10 weeks early. We are survivors of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. Because of this condition, I am profoundly disabled , quadriplegic with severe spastic cerebral palsy, epilepsy and profound learning difficulties. We live with our Mum & Dad in Chester in the UK.
Like many people, I have a mixed life. I smile a lot and I love cuddles . But sometimes life is very difficult. My body is in constant tension because of the severity of my condition. And I have seizures most days. It hurts a lot, but my Mum and Dad tell me I’m very brave.
I love being with my friends and family - especially my brother James. He has severe learning difficulties and is on the autistic spectrum. He makes me laugh. Like a lot of identical twins, we have a very special bond.
I live with my family in a lovely home in Chester, England. As I’ve grown older, and needed more and more help, the house has become too small for me. Soon I will need two carers with me, round the clock. I need more space for my supplies, my equipment and my carers. And it’s important to keep my family together.
It’s important for me to be near my parents and especially my brother (what can I say - he needs me!). They know me best and what I need. So I have to have my family around me. But I also need my carers.
And I’ve never been able to have friends round to my house. There just isn’t enough room for all the wheelchairs! It would be amazing to have space for them to visit and perhaps watch a film or enjoy some music therapy together.
Home is the best place for me where I have everything I need. It’s like having a hospital in my home. And for a hospital, you need a lot of space. Space for my two wheelchairs , all my supplies, my special bed and bath , my hoists - everything.
The bath has always been one of my happiest places. I have a very special bath, which goes up and down for my carers. It cost £11,000 (!) and has a spa function which I love. Fortunately the bath can move with me, though there will be a relocation fee.
Though we all want to live together, it can be difficult for the rest of my family, when there are carers in the home all day and all night. It makes it hard to have a private family life. Sometimes I’m noisy at night and wake everyone up. My mum is basically a superhero . But even superheroes need to sleep.
Being disabled is expensive. Being profoundly disabled is really expensive. (Remember my £11,000 bath?)
I have a big problem . Any house I move to needs to be adapted for me. That can include:
Mum and Dad can’t adapt a house while I’m living there. They can’t afford to buy another house without selling the existing one. There aren’t many places suitable for me to move to while work is underway and my brother really doesn’t like to be away from me (seriously - he suffers from anxiety and is on the autistic spectrum). Staying together is always the best option.
On top of that, moving house once is going to be hard enough (especially since James struggles with change), but moving twice - once into temporary accommodation and again into the finished house - is almost unthinkable. The best option by far is to make the new house ready while I’m still living in the old house with my family. Then we move just once.
How this can happen is my Great Big Problem and it’s the reason this website exists.
I need a home:
I don’t know how many houses meet all these requirements. They seem to cost at least £500,000 (a lot more than my current home). And adaptations for me and James could cost £100,000 or even more. This means spending ~£300,000 more than my current house is worth. Somehow I need to raise that much.
Do you have questions? The FAQs might help.
We’re all scratching our heads how to do this! Bridging finance (borrowing the cost of the new house) might be one way to allow my parents to buy the new house before the sale completed on the currrent house. This would mean my adaptations could be completed before I move in.
Bridging finance is not cheap. Neither are the many things I will need done to do to the new house (many of which were done for my current home). Disabled Facilities Grant are normally an option, but it’s only possible to apply for a grant once you have a house to move into. The grant process moves too slowly compared to the house moving process, so it’s unlikely the timescales will line up. We will however still pursue this option, in the hope it will cover some of the costs.
You’ll remember that but for my additional needs, my family would not be moving. Here is an example of some possible costs in finding me a suitable new home:
| Item | Estimated cost |
|---|---|
| Adaptations for James | £5,000 |
| Wheelchair accessible paths | £7,500 |
| Doorway widening | £7,500 |
| Wheelchair accessible garden room | £7,500 |
| Facilitate parking for care staff | £7,500 |
| Ramped access | £10,000 |
| Wet room | £15,000 |
| Private element of building works | £15,000 |
| Ceiling track hoists | £25,000 |
| Total | £100,000 |
Most houses aren’t already adapted, and the costs for adaptations are all a lot more than I have in my piggy bank! Any amount I can raise widens our options.
Click here for lots of ideas how you can help!
To do any of this, I’m going to need help. Help from our family, friends and strangers. There’s no getting round it: the things I most need, to find this new home and keep my family together, are love and money. (Not love of money though!)
I would love it if you could:
Some people have pledged their support in other, innovative ways. Read more about these on the pledges page. They’re inspirational!
Click here for lots of ideas how you can help!
Here’s a bit more about me and my twin James.
