“I’ve lost five years of life that I'll never get back" - Woman stuck in her own home due to wrong-size lift

A woman with severe medical needs has been confined to the upstairs of her home for FIVE YEARS – because the lift she needs to get downstairs is too small. Michelle Phillips, who lives on Kennerley Road in Davenport, Stockport, has numerous complex conditions and uses a wheelchair. Her mobility is made worse by the fact she is unable to bend one of her knees.

The council-installed lift at her home isn’t big enough to fit her and her chair inside. The 51-year-old has been trapped upstairs for half a decade. Michelle said her previous lift worked for years and helped to maintain her independence. But when malfunctioned, a new one was put it – and turned out to be too small.

She marked the five-year anniversary on Friday (March 15) by putting the number of days she has been inside on her upstairs window – 1,827. The former nursery worker said the sign – and balloons outside – give her a feeling of contact with the outside world as passers-by ponder her situation.

Michelle, who has a number of conditions and survived a stroke, will soon need hospital treatment. She’s worried her health will deteriorate if the problem isn’t solved soon and is pleading for help.

“I’ve lost five years of life that I’ll never get back,” Michelle said. “I’ve fought and fought to get out of here. I’ve done everything I can. I’ve phoned lift companies. I’ve had 16 people in this room for a meeting, but I haven’t managed to get out.

“It’s not that I want anybody to pay for it, my late parents will pay for it, but I just now can’t find a lift company that will do a commissioned lift – and that’s what I need. We’ve gone as far as looking abroad to try and find one. We nearly got one with a company, but they were out of England and they would have had to take over 24 hours if the lift broke down.

“I’ve been trapped in my lift many times, so we need a call out in four to six hours and they couldn’t offer that and they couldn’t do the electrics.”

Stockport council said it can’t comment on individual cases, but said it encouraged people contact them to discuss issues – or if their needs chance, so it can support them living an independent life. Michelle has lived in the house since December 1998 and has lived on the same street all her life. She says couldn’t face moving away.

Carers and a social worker have been helping her over the past five years. She was supported by her late father Stuart before he passed away in November 2020.

Michelle added: “It’s hard when you have to say goodbye to your father out of a bedroom window and organise his funeral and say goodbye to him on a phone. Nobody should ever have to do that.

“That’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, watch his funeral service with my friends on a laptop. That killed me. I can’t ever get that back. We were very close, I spoke to him three or four times a day, so being stuck in here… I will never forgive this situation for losing that opportunity.

“If we found a company who could help me, it would give me my life back, it would be all Christmases at once to know that I’d get out this year. I think it’d be wonderful. I need to get out this year, I have to because my health needs to be dealt with now, it’s got to a serious level.

“I don’t know what will happen if not, we try not to think, we’ve just got to keep going. Somewhere in this country there is a lift company and somebody would find them and they’ll get in contact with me, I just pray that miracle happens. I just need a company. If anyone out there knows a company [which can help], I’d be so grateful.”

Michelle is being supported by Stockport MP Navendu Mishra. He’s been fighting for her for two years. The MP has urged anyone who may be able to help to get in touch, adding: “She faces many challenges in respect of her health and care needs, but does so with indomitable spirit and tenacity. Being confined to one room, with no access to the outside is unimaginable for most of us.

“This has been Michelle’s life for five years. The lift in her home is not fit for purpose. Michelle has done her best to source a lift company to help her but now feels she needs to go public in the hope someone comes forward with a solution.

“It is vital Michelle is able to access hospital care and I would urge any company who thinks they could help to get in touch with my office.”