Paul’s firm helps boy play in garden

A BIG-HEARTED landscape gardener from Melbourne stepped in to help an eight-year-old quadruple amputee take himself off to play in his garden for the first time.

After years being mainly stuck inside, Taylor Lewis, eight, of Ilkeston, can now take himself out to his garden to bounce on his trampoline and whizz down his slide for the first time after Paul Bignall of awardwinning PB Landscapes of Melbourne volunteered his top-notch services for the job

Taylor fell ill with meningitis and sepsis aged eight months and had to have both legs and hands amputated He has since undergone 86 operations, has had multiple and ongoing complications, and goes to hospital twice a week

He gets around using a combination of a wheelchair and blades, but at home prefers to move himself about on just his stumps as it is much less painful

That has meant he has been unable to take himself outside to his garden since the family moved into their bungalow five years ago Not only is the garden on two levels, it also has lots of uneven surfaces which meant Taylor could not use it on his stumps, and his blades would not have worked either

In addition, attempts over several years by family and friends to try and fix the garden meant there were lots of rocks heaped around the space, adding to an already unsuitable surface for Taylor

But now Taylor can head outside himself and manoeuvre himself on to his slide and his trampoline after PB Landscapes of Melbourne came to Ilkeston and sorted out the garden for the family once and for all

The company heard of Taylor ’s plight through the memory-making charity me&dee

Paul and his team spent two days levelling out the space in Taylor ’s garden, laying down grass and sprucing up the rest of the area so the whole family can enjoy the space

Paul said: “Although you always know there are people badly off in the world, you don’t appreciate it until you see it Maria who founded me&dee is brilliant – I did her garden for free too

“It’s a good service I’m happy to do For me to see the smile on Taylor ’s face, being able to use his garden, is worth more than any money to me ”

Mum Terri said: “Paul coming to finish off our garden for us once and for all has made me feel so overwhelmed Just to know that Taylor can finally be himself outside the house again is wonderful Thank you so much to him and to me&dee for put-