Pensioner gets a surpriselift from kind-hearted firm

Pharmacy worker Rachel Shannon was so upset when she visited 88 year-old Ruth Riley's home in Walton-le-Dale and saw her struggling up the stairs that she started an appeal for a stairlift, which has now been installed

Eighty-eight-year-old Ruth Riley had been forced to crawl up the stairs of her home after she became too infirm to walk.

She had applied to her local council for a stairlift grant, but was told that although they would pay the majority of the cost, she would have to contribute £2,000, which she couldn’t afford to do.

But when hospital worker Rachel Shannon visited to deliver medication she was appalled by the state Mrs Riley was in, and decided to set up a fundraising page and within days the money had been raised.

But their appeal was greatly boosted by the kindness of Easylifting Stairlift Services in Marsh Green, which agreed to install it without any payment for a month.

The company also waived some the labouring costs as well as reducing the price on an almost new stairlift after being moved by Ruth’s story, said job supervisor Sam Leonard.

Rachel, who delivers medication for Lancashire hospitals, said: “The money is in a JustGiving account,” said Rachel. “It has to run for a month before the money can be accessed so it was really good of the company to install it and accept the payment a month later.

“They were brilliant to us and I hope it will make a huge different to Ruth’s life.”

Ruth said: “I’m absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers and it’s made my live 100 per cent better. I’m thrilled to bits and it’s all down to Rachel so I can’t thank her enough.”

Describing the day she visited Ruth’s house, Rachel said: “I knocked on the door but there was no answer.

“I could see the television was on so I knew she was in so I shouted to her.

“I heard her shouting back and she was crying in pain from an injection she’d had the day before.

“I called an ambulance and her daughter, but when I tried to get her upstairs into bed to rest but I saw she could barely manage the steps and I was astonished she didn’t have a stairlift.”

Rachel found out Ruth didn’t qualify for enough funding to get a lift in her home and couldn’t afford to install one herself and so started a campaign to raise the money needed.

She said: “I put it on Facebook and got a great response - the money was raised in a week!”

Lancashire County Council had quoted a cost in the region of £2,500 for a stairlift, but by shopping around Rachel was able to find one much cheaper.