Independence family with son with special needs gets much-needed bathroom remodel | FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Tub time was usually a struggle for this Independence household boosting a youngster with particular needs.

“He enjoys sensation h2o against his skin,” said mother Erika Hinrichs, talking about her 10-calendar year-outdated son Mickey.

In truth, he loves the water so considerably, she’ll generally locate him entirely dressed and sitting down in the bathtub ready for a person to turn on the drinking water.

Mickey was born with a number of genetic mutations. Erika give up do the job to become his fulltime caregiver.  

“He’s nonverbal,” Erika stated. “He does not wander. He doesn’t feed himself. He does not costume himself. He’s not potty trained.”

But Mickey has no trouble allowing Erika and father Kelly know how a lot he enjoys to choose a bathtub. The trouble is that the rest room in the Hinrichs’ Independence house is so little that Erika has to have Mickey to his bed room to dry him off and transform him. 

Every single 12 months the undertaking of lifting Mickey out of the tub and carrying him to his bedroom gets to be more of a obstacle.

That’s also the main purpose Schloegel Style Transform picked the Hinrichs family as the winner of the company’s annual Massive Splash toilet giveaway.

“When we established out with this point 11 many years ago, the driving power was how can we make the biggest affect to a child’s lifetime,” mentioned Chris Peterson, a Schloegel vice president.

Peterson mentioned Schloegel’s sellers and subcontractors also give of their time and items to make the venture take place. FOX4’s Like Fund allows come across families who qualify for the free bathroom.

When Erika discovered her relatives experienced been picked out she was shocked.

“I believed there ended up so many individuals that applied that had been so a great deal much more deserving,” she reported.

It was not long after we spoke to Erika that Schloegel began function transforming the lavatory. To enlarge the house, Schloegel mixed the half-tub in the master bedroom with the complete bathtub in the hallway. Erika picked out all the tile, colours and fixtures, putting exclusive emphasis on the ever-essential tub.

A number of months later on, it was time for the massive expose. Test it out in the online video player previously mentioned.

“Oh my goodness,” reported Erika as the door to her freshly reworked bathroom was little by little opened. Her the moment cramped and dated rest room was now spacious and fashionable, with colourful flooring and tile. But the tub was the superstar. It has jet streams.

Upcoming to the bathtub is a zero-entry shower that Mickey can access by wheelchair if he doesn’t want to acquire a bath. Moreover, just one of the doors has been widened for effortless wheelchair accessibility.

“Everything seems to be so good and so clean up,” Erika mentioned. “I would have been thrilled with just that. But they did not just do that. They went previously mentioned and over and above, bringing to existence the warmth I so required to have and the style.”

As for Mickey? He had presently climbed inside that new tub, ready for the water will work to start.