THE mother of a severely disabled 11-year-old is pleading with the council to fix the lift which she relies on to get her in and out of her bedroom – after weeks of carrying her around on her back.

Georgina Evans, from Blackburn, has said she is physically and emotionally drained from having to carry her daughter Grace up and down the stairs after the vital piece of equipment broke three weeks ago.

The mum-of-four got in touch with Blackburn with Darwen council straight away, where she said assurances were made that the lift would be fixed as a matter of urgency after it was installed by the authority in 2015 when the Evans family were awarded a disabled facility grant.

The council has now responded to the claims, stating the family are no longer entitled to maintenance – but bosses pledged to get the issue sorted as a gesture of goodwill.

Mrs Evans, who lives with her family in a council-owned property in Whitebirk, said: “Grace has very complex needs and is a full-time wheelchair user. Among other issues she has a genetic disorder, is blind, has epilepsy and is non-verbal.

“We rely hugely on the stairlift as she is not able to move around the house on her own. She is 11 now, a fully grown child and I have been spending the last three weeks carrying her up and down the stairs on my back, I am beyond drained.”

Tragically, Grace’s dad and Mrs Evans’ husband, Dennis, was recently diagnosed with incurable cancer and has just months left to live.

The 56-year-old has been unable to help as he would like with his daughter due to his illness, leaving Mrs Evans to bear the brunt of the lifting.

She said: “We have made a bedroom downstairs for Dennis as he is too weak to get up and down the stairs.

“This really is the last thing I need to be dealing with right now, as a family we have so much on our plate.

“When we first had the lift installed in 2016, it was a real godsend. Now it’s proving almost impossible to live without. The council have been nothing but lovely throughout, every time I call up they are supportive – but it is never backed up with actions.

“They told me they would deal with this as a priority – if this is them moving quickly I’d hate to see them on a slow day.”

A council spokesperson said: “When the stairlift was installed in their home in 2016, the family did not opt in to the service and maintenance contract. This means that the servicing and maintenance of the stairlift is the family’s responsibility as they are the owners of the equipment.

“Staff in our children with disability team have been in touch with Mrs Evans over the last week to explain this to her.

“As a goodwill gesture, we have now added this stairlift to the Council’s service and maintenance contract to enable the repair to be done as soon as possible. While the contractor’s repair timescales are out of our hands, we will continue to keep Mrs Evans up to date with when the contractor can carry out the repair.”