{"id":298631,"date":"2026-02-15T01:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T01:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/298631\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T01:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T01:18:08","slug":"volunteers-plan-a-life-changing-home-extension-in-limerick-town-for-alex-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/298631\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteers plan a life-changing home extension in Limerick town for Alex, 11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A LIMERICK plumber has begun assembling a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/section\/230\/community\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">volunteer<\/a> team of tradespeople to carry out major accessibility works at the home of a child with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.<\/p>\n<p>He is coordinating tradespeople in a bid to convert a family home to better meet the needs of wheelchair user Alex Heaney, 11, who has lived with the progressive muscle-wasting condition since early childhood.<\/p>\n<p>The planned works include alterations to the entrance of the house and a side extension with Alex&#8217;s own room and a wheelchair accessible ensuite bathroom.<\/p>\n<p>Alex, from Patrickswell, just turned five when he was diagnosed with Duchenne. The disease is characterised as causing progressive muscle degeneration and weakness due to a type of protein leaking from tears in muscles.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/news\/athletics\/2011218\/starting-line-now-in-sight-for-new-athletics-centre-in-limerick.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Starting line now in sight for new athletics centre in Limerick<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Alex has been a full-time wheelchair user for the past two years. His stepfather, Keith Higgins, said the move into the chair marked a turning point in the family\u2019s ability to cope in a house never designed for accessibility.<\/p>\n<p>The family\u2019s current routine involves carrying Alex multiple times a day between rooms, onto a stairlift, and up and down stairs due to the absence of a downstairs toilet or bedroom. Both parents work, and the physical demands of lifting their growing son have begun to take a toll.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a big physical load in it,\u201d Mr Higgins said. \u201cWe have different things that are happening to us, like Kate&#8217;s wrist comes at her and my lower back gives out sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur worries would be that at the minute, he&#8217;s just confined to two rooms,\u201d added Mr Higgins.<\/p>\n<p>While the volunteer-led project is still at an early stage, the family say its impact if completed would be life-changing. \u201cIt would change everything,\u201d said Mr Higgins. \u201cIt would make Alex&#8217;s life so much easier&#8230; It would give him a proper teenage boy life where he can go and do his own thing in his own space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A LIMERICK plumber has begun assembling a volunteer team of tradespeople to carry out major accessibility works at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[103,61,60,43,13810],"class_list":{"0":"post-298631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-patrickswell"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}