Man diagnosed with terminal cancer left stunned after friend secretly renovates his entire home

Keith Ellick asked for his fence to be fixed and never expected an army of volunteers would transform his home

Builders volunteered to renovate the house for free (file photo) (Getty)

A man given just a year to live was left speechless after his boss organised a team of volunteers to renovate his house

Keith Ellick, 41, broke the news to his boss Addam Smith by telling him he might not last a year and could not even afford to pay for a funeral.

But when Mr Ellick asked his boss, who owns a landscaping and fencing company, if he would help mend his fence, his friend went a step further and organised a team of volunteer builders to give his home a makeover.

After sending Mr Ellick and his family away for a week, Mr Smith got to work with a team of builders from the Facebook group Builders Talk and used donated supplies to get the job done.

“I had the opportunity to work with the SAS of the building world… the best lads I’ve ever met,” Mr Smith said of the team of volunteers. “They’re he best lads I’ve ever met.”

But Mr Smith didn’t stop there, and is now fundraising extra money to help his friend buy the house for his family to live in, get his affairs in order, and send him to a specialist in London.

On his fundraising page, Mr Smith wrote: “This is for my mate Keith Ellick, a hard working loving family man. Keith has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and been given a year to live, let’s get him and his family on holiday and sort him out with a few quid to get his affairs in order.”

Having seen his newly renovated family home, Mr Ellick shared his own thank you message with those who had helped on the fundraising page.

“I’ve been through a rough few months, but this is not about me, this is about me telling all you people thank you for what you’ve done for me and my family,” the brave father said in a video.

“What you’ve done for me is like wow, you people you’re kind decent amazing people. I was never even taught there were people out there like you.

“All I wanted them to do was finish off my fence and he decided to do this and I’m like wow and he even got the charity to take me down to London to see this professor… all I can say is thank you very much, I appreciate everything,” he added tearfully.