DIY SOS — Season 29

Jan 201859m

Amanda, mother of four and wife to local builder Vic, was training on her bicycle for an iron man when her brakes failed on Bury Hill, West Sussex. Travelling at 40 mph, she lost control and smashed into a signpost which catapulted her into bushes. The enormous impact meant Amanda broke 11 bones, punctured a lung and snapped her collarbone and her back. On arrival at A&E, she was told that she had been left paralysed. With husband Vic now tending to the four children, Amanda spent the next six months at Stoke Mandeville spinal unit. Even during her darkest days at the unit, she would help to feed other patients to keep busy and to remind herself that - in her mind - it could have been worse for her. After two gruelling 12-hour back operations, she returned home in a wheelchair. Her home was now unsuitable, so that is where the DIY SOS volunteers come to the family's rescue.

Mar 201858m

On 22 March 2017, 35-year-old PC Kris was returning from a ceremony to honour officers who deal with public order issues where he was awarded for his exceptional work as a police liaison officer in the Metropolitan Police. What should have been a happy day shortly turned to horror as Kris became a victim of the terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge in London. The horrific attack left five people dead, including police officer Keith Palmer, and many more with very serious injuries, including Kris. Months after the attack, Kris resides in Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Aylesbury, undergoing daily routines to help with his rehabilitation, unable to return to his north London home as it is now inaccessible to him and unsuitable for his rehabilitation. Without big changes, Kris can't get home, so that is where DIY SOS step in, with hundreds of generous volunteers, to help this injured police officer get home to his loving family.

Mar 20181h

In West Bromwich, Crystal Chambers, a mother of two young children, visited her local GP and hospital on numerous occasions over two years and was left undiagnosed before finally being admitted. Upon admission to hospital, Crystal was suddenly given the devastating news that she had advanced stomach cancer, which had spread to her spine. Tragically, Crystal passed away a few weeks later. Her children were left potentially without a home as well as a mother. It was therefore left to Crystal's mother Sandra, who has dedicated her entire life to working with families in crisis, and Crystal's 19-year-old brother, to take the children into their tiny two-bedroom home. With a family stuck in a tiny home, unable to deal with their grief, the team and generous West Bromwich volunteers step in to drastically improve this family's home and guarantee that Sandra can keep the family together.

Oct 20181h

This week, Nick Knowles's DIY SOS team, the flamboyant designer Laurence Llewelyn Bowen and volunteers pitch up in Avening, in the idyllic Cotswolds, to help project manager Ben, whose life was changed in a split second by a freak accident on holiday. In April 2016, whilst holidaying in Cyprus with his partner Ella and daughters Iris and Olivia, Ben slipped and fell head-first into the shallow end of a pool, breaking his neck in three places. After months of treatment in Cyprus and Germany, he was finally flown back to the UK, where the Salisbury Spinal Unit made amazing progress with him over the next 12 months. Despite his life-changing injuries there is hope: if Ben could return home, he would be reunited with his family and could even work from home again as a project manager. The DIY SOS team are joining forces with this generous community to get the build finished.

Jan 201958m

Nick Knowles and the DIY SOS volunteers help Simon Dobbin in Mildenhall, Suffolk - a loving father, husband and football fan whose life suddenly changed forever in March 2015. After supporting his football team at an away game, he was set upon by a gang of men in a brutal and unprovoked attack. Tragically, the vicious 90-second attack had left him permanently brain damaged, paralysed and unable to walk or talk, needing round-the-clock care. After many months in hospital Simon is finally home, with Nicole as his full-time carer. Simon's current house is now unfit for purpose - it is inhibiting his rehabilitation and a massive strain on the family's life, and so that's where the DIY SOS volunteers step up and help this family in need. Interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen adds a truly unique and hilarious addition to the kitchen design, and the local RAF assist.