Skegness woman thanks stairlifts for giving her independence

A woman from Skegness has spoken of her joy at having a stairlift installed after she found that her condition was causing her immense difficulty when using the stairs in her home.

Jennifer Croxford is 52-years-old and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. Although she has managed to continue living independently in Skegness for 13 years after her diagnosis, the impact of the condition steadily grew until it became a real problem for her.

Multiple sclerosis has caused Jennifer Croxford to face a number of mobility issues, and although she was perfectly happy to use rise and recline chairs in her home, getting a stairlift felt like a last resort. After having one installed however, she admitted that her only regret was not getting one sooner.

When describing life at home before the stairlift, it is clear that everyday tasks became a struggle. Jennifer Croxford admitted that simple tasks, such as carrying the washing upstairs, would take "three times as long" as she would have to place the object a few steps ahead of her before crawling on her hands and knees up the stairs. She says that this kind of simple task "drained all my innermost strength", and in May 2012 she decided that making changes to her home was the way forward for saving that energy to put towards better things.

Thankfully, Jennifer began looking into the possibility of getting a stairlift installed, and although she describes the initial decision to get one as "taking the plunge", it proved to be one of the best decisions she has ever made to preserve her independence for years to come.

After contacting a stairlift company, they came round to her home to see if she would need curved stairlifts or straight stairlifts installed, and after making sure she was happy with her final decision, they installed it the following week.

After testing out the stairlift, Jennifer has said that she has "never looked back" since she bought it and now feels "liberated". The stairlift has made a huge difference to everyday life for her, and when it comes to recommending them to other people, she is more than happy to do so. She describes her case as "proof that they are an essential element" to retaining independence and increasing mobility, reason enough to consider installing one.

Image Credit: orsorama (flickr.com)