Teenager's desperate plea pays off

SAVE my home - and my mum.

That was the cry from a Suffolk teenager who saw her mum crumbling along with their house and turned to a television show in desperation.

Single mum-of-two Yvette Hart was working non-stop to renovate her house in Gayford Terrace, Shotley, despite having two slipped discs in her back.

So her daughter, Amy, called in the experts from BBC show DIY SOS.

Amy, 18, said: “She was slightly decrepit and a menace to herself.

“I kept coming back to the house and something else had been demolished. The place was full of dust from all the work.

“I was worried about her and myself if it continued with her trying to do all the work herself.

“More and more parts of the house were being pulled down.

“There were rats in the kitchen and that was really doing her head in as she has a phobia about rats.”

So Amy secretly contacted the reality television show and out of around 30,000 entries the family were picked as one of eight to get the makeover.

Ms Hart, who works for a pupil referral unit, and her son Max, 11, stayed with a friend while the work was carried out and came back to a new, transformed, kitchen.

The 41-year-old said: “I had spinal decompression surgery in July 2005 and we moved in here in March 2006.

“It was a complete renovation project, the whole thing needed gutting. I was knocking down walls and was in constant pain. It got to the point it was difficult to feel my legs.

“So it was great to go away and have them do it all for me.”

And when she saw the team's handiwork after four days in her cottage she was thrilled.

She added: “It was just what I wanted. A funky, contemporary, slightly quirky kitchen.

“It has really changed our lives. It's much easier on my back now I'm not doing so much work.”

To see the renovation in action watch DIY SOS on BBC 1 at 8.30pm tomorrow.

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