A FAMILY HAVE been told that they will finally get a house extension for their father, a double-amputee, after months of campaigning.
Jack Lynam lost both his legs after a bout of serious illness, and is in need of suitable adaptations to be made to his home.
In March of this year, his son Jonathan told TheJournal.ie that Dublin City Council informed the family they wouldn’t be able to get an extension until 2017.
He described this as “highly distressing”, and was concerned about the impact it could have on his father.
Last week, the family received a letter from Dublin City Council to say that “after securing extra funding my father’s file has been sent on to the surveyor to progress with the extension”, said Jonathan Lynam.
Delighted
“We are are delighted with that,” he said. “We had to read the letter three or four times to see if it was saying what it was saying… it was a relief.”
He said that they had been meeting “brick walls” and were “really losing hope” over the issue.
Jack Lynam is getting discharged from the National Rehabilitation Hospital this Friday, so the news comes at a good time. He first attended hospital in December 2013 after suffering from pains in his legs, and it was discovered he had peripheral vascular disease.
It was subsequently discovered that he had a blood disorder, and he later ended up losing his legs.
“There’s obviously a bit of a process it has to go into, like planning permission. We don’t mind that,” said Jonathan.
We are happy to be patient. At least it’s in process. To be constantly getting told it would be 2017, this comes as great news. In 2017, the process was only going to start then.
Rebuilding a life
Jack Lynam is “after coming on leaps and bounds” thanks to the NRH, said his son. “It’s incredible what they can do. They rebuild your life – he’s getting driving lessons in an adapted car and he has been climbing steps in prosthetics.”
Jonathan was in contact with a number of councillors and TDs about the issue, and said that he realised that there were a lot of people “in the same place as my dad”.
“We were not looking to jump to the top of the queue,” he said.
When it became obvious there was a backlog, I said the backlog has to be tackled. We know ourselves what it’s like for a family going through that. The big thing was the funding had to be made available.
Jonathan Lynam thanked all those who helped him, in particular the GAA club Craobh Chiarain, and the Pull Inn, who both held fundraisers for his dad.
“It was brilliant,” he said of the support.
Without that, we weren’t getting heard. Thanks to all the councillors and TDs, and those who held the benefit nights.
Dublin City Council had told TheJournal.ie that the average waiting time for an extension to a property is 24 months.
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