Boy's illness improves after DIY SOS revamp

DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles said the transformation of Raffi's home was a "huge undertaking"

A father has thanked a BBC television show for playing a "massive" part in his son's recovery from an illness by transforming his home.

A family from Bracknell feature in this week's DIY SOS programme after it helped eight-year-old Raffi. He had been left with brain damage and needing a wheelchair after contracting E. coli.

Unable to go home from hospital because their house was not suitable, the programme team turned his bedroom and garden into accessible spaces.

The unveiling was shown on Friday's programme and Raffi's father Dean said the transformation of his room into a space filled with different colours of the rainbow had "changed their lives".

He said: "It's been absolutely beautiful to see the transition and Raffi is enjoying it as much as we thought he would.

"He also loves the garden as that was a small space to begin with and we weren't expecting it to be used so beautifully.

"To the team, thank you for changing our lives as it's been everything we needed."

He added Raffi's recovery had seen a "massive" improvement since moving from hospital into the transformed house in March.

"He's very far from where he was on that show, as he's now taking steps, he's able to remember, he's talking, all because of the spaces that they've made here," he said.

DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles said the transformation had been "huge undertaking" that involved more than 600 tradespeople.

"That's how many people it took to change the whole house around and they were all over the moon to see how much Raffi now enjoys his room," he said.

"The transformation of Raffi has been semi miraculous and the environment he now lives in has certainly helped."