VIDEO: Dying man stunned after crew - including two Northants men - renovates entire home
Having learned he had terminal cancer, Lincoln man Keith Ellick, asked his boss Addam Smith whether he could finish the fence at his house.
But Mr Smith, who runs ALS Fencing and Landscaping, decided to go a step further, assembling a crew of tradesmen to renovate 41-year-old Mr Ellick’s entire house and garden.
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Hide AdThe results of the DIY SOS style refurbishment were captured by Mr Smith in an emotional Youtube film which has now been seen more than 100,000 times.
And two Northamptonshire tradesman were part of the crew having first heard of Mr Smith’s scheme on the Facebook group Builder’s Talk.
Electrician Ashley Morgan, 18, from Rectory Farm, spent two days on site and said he just had to get involved.
He said: “It was a weekend out of my life, for something that would make a huge difference to someone else.
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Hide Ad“There were 50 blokes there in total, most had never met Keith or Addam before. Everyone was just coming through to help a man in need.”
The crew not only landscaped dad of three Mr Ellick’s garden, but they gutted both bedrooms and the kitchen to boot, as well as re-plastering walls and refitting electrics throughout.
The whole job took seven days to complete, leaving Mr Ellick emotional.
“What you’ve done for me is like wow, you people you’re kind decent amazing people,” he said in the Youtube video.
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Hide Ad“I was never even taught there were people out there like you.”
Richard Patchesa, a 39-year-old fencing firm owner and dad-of-two from Braunston, also joined the crew for two days.
He said: “All of us had worked on building sites all of our lives and we knew that normally there are arguments.
“But this was so different, it was the best couple of days of my professional career.”
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Hide AdMr Smith is now fundraising extra money to help his friend buy the house for his family to live in and send him to a specialist in London.
On his fundraising page, Mr Smith wrote: “Keith has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and been given a year to live, let’s get him and his family on holiday and sort him out with a few quid to get his affairs in order.”
To donate to the cause head to: https://www.gofundme.com/Liftkeith