Customer Story - Livingstone
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CUSTOMER STORY HOW A STILTZ HOMELIFT IMPROVED LIFE OF CEREBRAL PALSY CHARITY FOUNDER “I used to struggle down the stairs in the morning and then I would wait for my husband to come home from work before going up again so he could help me.” A cerebral palsy sufferer from London has ‘transformed’ her life after installing a Stiltz Homelift which enables her to move from floor to floor simply and easily at the touch of a button. Emma Livingstone, 42, has learned to live with CP from a young age and, although it is not considered a degenerative condition by doctors, three years ago her ability to walk became extremely difficult. The stairs became a huge challenge for her and she found it difficult to even lift her leg up and over a pavement curb. “I used to struggle down the stairs in the morning and then I would wait for my husband to come home from work before going up again so he could help me,” said Emma. She was eventually diagnosed with hip dysplasia. This meant Emma’s hip socket did not fully cover the ball portion of her upper thighbone so her hip joint was partially dislocated – a condition she was born with caused by the CP. After undergoing hip reconstruction on her right hip, she returned home and spent the majority of 2016 recovering in a makeshift bedroom in the kitchen. Then unfortunately, her left hip started to suffer from a similar problem, resulting in her having a hip replacement in April 2018. Before the operation, Emma and her husband considered downsizing to a bungalow but with three children this proved hard. In the end, the couple decided to extend their property and buy a Stiltz Homelift which is the only freestanding domestic lift available on the market with no hydraulics required. The family chose the Trio Classic model – which can accommodate a standardsized wheelchair – installed in a space off the kitchen where it plugs straight into a domestic power socket from a self-contained motor with no noise vibration, unlike other lifts which need to be bolted into a

Stiltz were able to install the Trio in a day with a simple hole in the ceiling, all that was needed for the lift to be constructed and pass through floors. It travels on self-supporting rails to a first-floor landing area. Emma, who is still on crutches, said: "We decided to prepare in advance of my last operation and looked at moving to a bungalow but it was never going to be easy finding a property that could accommodate five people and bungalows are difficult enough to find anyway. "It is not invasive, looks modern and provides me with easy access to the whole house. It is also great...