A group of tradesmen volunteers from across the country are banding together to adapt the home of a Banbury man after he lost his leg. 

Mark Willerton, a self-employed plumber and bathroom fitter, ruptured the tendons in his right leg after bending down to pick up some screws from his van in December 2019. 

Mr Willerton, 50, underwent three lots of surgery, with each of them requiring months of being bed-bound.

These were all unsuccessful, resulting in his leg being removed.

Band of Builders (BoB), a national construction charity, are creating a wheelchair-friendly wet room at his home in Banbury.

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The registered charity completes practical projects to help members of the UK construction industry and their families who are battling illness or injury. 

Former powerlifter Mr Willerton said he is "so grateful" that Band of Builders were stepping in to help him and his family.

He said: “I know exactly what needs doing and am gutted that I can’t do it myself, but when it is done, it will make a huge difference to the quality of my life.” 

Initially the father-of-two thought he had just gone over on his ankle, but the issue persisted and he went to hospital, where he was initially diagnosed with a fractured ankle.

However, it was later confirmed that he had ruptured the tendons in his ankle. 

Following three unsuccessful operations, in December 2022 Mr Willerton met with his surgeon, and they both reluctantly came to the same conclusion that the only option left open to them was amputation.

Since then, he has had further surgery to remove the nerve ball, painful lumps and some of the nerves that have grown back, so that he can use a prosthetic leg.

He now goes between his wheelchair and prosthetic leg.

Volunteer tradespeople from across the UK will descend on Banbury to help “one of their own” by giving their time free of charge to help convert Mark’s bathroom after Mark and his wife Lynne put out a call for help to BoB.

The project is set to take place at the end of August, and half a dozen tradespeople from the BoB community have already volunteered to help on the week-long project.

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Operations director Tony Steel said this will be the charity’s 38th project since it was founded in 2016.

He said: “We’re gearing up for Mark’s project, and yet again the 50,000-strong members of the BoB community have done us proud and answered the call to help one of their own."

The project will involve making the bathroom into a wet room with a large shower with a fold-down seat, as well as widening the room to make the bathroom more accessible.