Volunteer tradespeople from a national construction charity are set to create a wheelchair-friendly wet room at the Banbury home of a former powerlifter who lost his leg after a freak accident while at work as a plumber.
Mark Willerton ran a very successful business converting bathrooms until 2019 when he ruptured the tendons in his right leg after picking up a packet of screws from his van. He’s not worked since then, as he has undergone three lots of surgery – which all failed, and the only option left was to remove the leg.
He had a very painful fall on his stump when he fell in the small ensuite bathroom at his home and realised that the bathroom needed to be bigger – but he is unable to do the work himself in such a confined space.
Mark and wife Lynne put out a call for help to Band of Builders (BoB) – a registered charity that completes practical projects to help members of the UK construction industry and their families who are battling illness or injury – and volunteer tradespeople from across the UK will descend on Banbury to help “one of their own” by giving their time free of charge to help convert Mark’s bathroom.
The project is set to take place at the end of August, and half a dozen tradespeople from the BoB community have already volunteered to help on the week-long project.
Mark expressed his frustration that he couldn’t do the job himself but recognised he cannot access the current ensuite safely. He said: “I’m so grateful that Band of Builders will be able to help me and my family.
“I know exactly what needs doing and am gutted that I can’t do it myself – but when it is done, it will make a huge difference to the quality of my life.”
Mark’s story
In December 2019, self-employed plumber and bathroom fitter Mark was working on a job at a racecourse when he went to his van to get screws. He thought he’d just gone over on his ankle, so he wanted to finish the job before going home.
The issue persisted and he went to hospital, where he was initially diagnosed with a fractured ankle – but it was later confirmed that he’d completely ruptured the tendons in his ankle. That was the last time he was able to work.
He had surgery a few months later to knit the tendons back together, after which he was bed-bound for four months with his right leg elevated, as it couldn’t bear any of his 120 kg weight. To make matters worse, Mark is immune to opioids, meaning that pain relief such as morphine has no effect on him.
The first surgery proved unsuccessful – and a further two surgeries followed – a tendon transfer and fusion, with the third one to remove a screw inserted during the first surgery and another repair. Each of these also required months being bed-bound because his right leg had to remain elevated. None of them were successful.
In December 2022, Mark met with his surgeon, and they both reluctantly came to the same conclusion that the only option left open to them was amputation.
Since then, Mark has had further surgery to remove the nerve ball, painful lumps and some of the nerves that have grown back – so that he can use a prosthetic leg.
It’s been tough for Mark using a prosthetic leg, and he goes between that and a wheelchair.
BoB ready to help “one of their own”
Operations Director Tony Steel said this will be the charity’s 38th project since it was founded in 2016:
“We’re gearing up for Mark’s project, and yet again the 50,000-strong members of the BoB community have done us proud and answered the call to help one of their own,” he said.
The project will make the bathroom bigger and allow Mark to use the facilities more easily. This will involve making the bathroom into a wet room with a large shower with a fold-down seat, as well as widening the room to make the bathroom more accessible.
For more information about the project, go to https://bandofbuilders.org/pages/marks-project.
