Audra's Project

The Objective

The aim of this project was to install a new wet room, as Audra – who suffers from a number of conditions (including hypermobility) that will ultimately see her needing the use of a wheelchair – can no longer use a bath, and a warm shower twice a day helps relieve the pain of her symptoms.

7 Tradespeople
8 Days to Complete
£9,505 Delivery Value

Background

Audra is the wife of Drew, a time-served carpenter from Cornwall. Audra’s career as a child dancer and actor of stage and screen is now taking its toll on her body, and she suffers from a number of conditions.

The ever-resilient Audra remains positive and upbeat, even though she has not worked for the past couple of years, as the combination of conditions - including hypermobility, connective tissue disease, arteriosclerosis, bruits and a dilated aorta – is having an increasing impact on her mobility and quality of life with her family, including her six-year-old daughter Azaria.

Fifty-year-old Audra has very flexible joints, which as a child meant she was a supple dancer and actress. Her professional career started at the tender age of five years old, and by 11 years old she was headlining the first child stage production of Bugsy Malone at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. Audra continued to work in the West End and on various UK tours. Over the years, Audra has worked with the likes of Sam Mendes, Martin Clunes, Lionel Blair, Sir Terry Wogan and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Audra now suffers constant joint pain, as they can pop out at any time. She also suffers with bruits (which are audible vascular sounds associated with turbulent blood flow) and arteriosclerosis (which is in her brain), which means that the blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients from her heart have become thick and stiff – and can sometimes restrict blood flow.

The Project

Audra’s bathroom was in poor condition and dangerous, so our plan was to create a new wet room. The project had its challenges, which only became clear once the team had ripped the old bathroom out and found a catalogue of poor workmanship from when an extension was built some years ago.

A team of six tradespeople volunteered their time on the eight-day project to transform the bathroom into a wet room.

A thrilled Audra said that when she saw her new wet room for the first time, it was like opening the best present ever. The project has given her back her dignity, as she’s no longer reliant on her husband to help her in and out of the bath to help her relieve the pain of her symptoms.

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