1 week Ago By Nicola Bardon
DERMOT Bannon has said the kindness of strangers who helped build a home for charity will live with him "for the rest of his life". The TV star hosts a special Room to Improve episode tomorrow night, where a team of volunteers turn a derelict Dublin building into four apartments for the families of people with cystic fibrosis . For those with the condition, they often have to spend weeks or months in hospital, leaving their families facing commuting to see them, or spending on accommodation.
But former Dancing with the Stars judge Julian Benson , who also has CF , decided to buy the home with his foundation, and transform it with the help of Dermot and hundreds of others. Speaking to The Irish Sun outside the new Tranquility House, he said: “I’ve never seen that level of kindness before. "I’ve never experienced that in my life.
I’ve seen people doing charity things - charity runs, charity triathlons, all of that - but I’ve never actually seen heart and kindness and just dedication and people giving up that amount of their time. “Having it all depend on volunteers was really difficult when you are trying to do things logistically but seeing volunteers and everybody being equal on the site. "And it doesn’t matter, because everybody’s doing it for free.
That will live with me for the rest of my life.” Companies from around the country, such as Chadwicks, Andy Gahan Plumbing and P-Mac Heritage Contractors, donated labour, products and tools, all free of charge over the course of a year to turn the house into four liveable apartments for families to stay in when their loved one is in hospital . Dermot heard of the project through a friend and convinced RTE to let them film it for Room to Improve.
He said the experience was “mind-blowing”, adding: “I’ve never ever seen anything like it in my life and I don’t know if I ever will again.” He also got to know Julian over the past 12 months and what he has to live with on a daily basis with CF. He said: “It’s weird, a lot of the time you’re just completely stressed by the whole thing.
"Everybody comes in, including me, and does their bit, and my bit was to make sure the design was okay. "I was so focused on that and it’s only when I got to sit back and watch an interview of somebody that might stay in the house, when I saw what their lives are like. “Even just getting to know Julian over the last couple of years.
I knew him from the television but I didn’t really know him. "But I got to know him and his life is tough. His life with medication, what he goes through to stay alive is unbelievable.
“And he is typical of everybody with CF. And I think that’s what kept everybody going, knowing this will make a huge difference to people’s lives. "I’ve never experienced that in my life.
I’ve seen people doing charity things - charity runs, charity triathlons, all of that - but I’ve never actually seen heart and kindness and just dedication and people giving up that amount of their time." “I did a project 12 years ago in Tallaght Hospital and I always remember being really struck by the CF ward because it’s something you do forever. "Lots of people will end up in hospital, maybe for a month, and then they’ll go home .
"People with CF will be doing this for the rest of their lives. "And not all live in Dublin, and not all their families can afford to spend nights in hotels. "So to know you’re going to be hospitalised and to have somewhere there that you know is safe, secure, it’s not intimidating, and it’s run by somebody who completely understands what you’re going through because he’s going through it himself, that’s what everybody is doing it for.
” The RTE star added: “I’m just so in awe of Julian at how he gets through what he gets through, how he goes through the day on medications and hospital visits and he was on dialysis right up until recently and he got a kidney transplant and that’s his life, that’s his day to day. "We all complain about the weather, we have no idea really until we step into somebody else’s shoes who lives that kind of life. "Anything that can make that journey for them or their family that little bit easier is so worth doing.
” Dermot praised everyone who got involved, including Jimmy Roche, who came up from Cork every week to work on the project, and dementia nurse Claire McGoldrick, from Leitrim, who finished work in Blanchardstown Hospital every day and then came to the site to help. Brandon Duarte from Vision Contracting in Cork was the Project Leader and like everyone else, gave his time and expertise for free. He said: “I’m here 14 months since we started the project, costs have gone through the roof since that, they’ve doubled, if not more.
"There was a target, it couldn’t have been done only for this. You’re looking at €2 million plus and you can see it. "It’s just the goodness of people, the companies, everything inside is a touch of class.
"We had fantastic people from all over Ireland and from all over the world. "We had an awful lot of different cultures show up, that had their own companies, that are only in Ireland a couple of years and started their own companies, they came on board with us and it was rival companies that wouldn’t normally do it in the real world, they all came together and just worked together, it was unbelievable to see it.” The Room to Improve special airs tomorrow at 9.
30pm on RTE One and check out today’s TV mag for more chats with Dermot and Julian..
