“I feel like a prisoner in my own home.”

Those are the words of Sally Walker who has spent the last three years trapped in her armchair because of her severe disabilities.

The mum-of-two suffers from lymphedema, a severe swelling of the legs that has left her in agony and unable to move.

Instead, she lives, sleeps and eats on her armchair relying only on photographs her husband Steve and family have taken as a window to the outside world beyond her living room. Sally has today spoken to the Daily Echo about her living hell because she is backing a campaign for more disabled-friendly homes for the five million people in the country who have mobility problems.

Fighting back tears, Sally said: “I just want to give up. I have had enough because I’m thinking what’s next because there is nothing. What is the point? I am just existing, not living.

“I’ve been depressed for years but this has tipped me over the edge.

“I’m 50 years of age and I am trapped. I have no privacy and no life.

“I’m frightened of dying here in the chair.

“This is it. This is my life. All I see is these four walls.”

Sally explained she has carers in four times every day to help her wash using a bowl, the last time she went upstairs in her council-owned two bedroom home in Southampton was SEVEN years ago and her biggest dream is to simply be able to get up and feel the fresh air on her face.

Even if she had a wheelchair though, she would not be able to leave the living room because the doors are all too narrow and there is no ramp.

Once she fell in a narrow part of her Lordshill home and it took eight paramedics four-and-a-half hours to help her.

Sally, who spends the days on Facebook, reading, watching TV, talking to friends and petting her dog Chalkie, said: “I got stuck so I was half in half out in the pouring rain.

“I just dream of being able to get out. When I do have to go to the hospital when I get outside in their chair or bed and the fresh air or sun hits me and I think ‘oh my God, what’s that?’ it’s really weird.

“I have to ask the carers what it is like outside and my family show me photos of the garden.”

However before, life was very different.

Sally, who gets upset looking at her collection of ornaments lined up on the bookshelf which remind her of the days she spent shopping, explained she would do everything to avoid being at home.

“I was never in. I would find any excuse to go out, even if it was just to go round Steve’s mum’s house. We spent Christmas down the beach with the dog, we used go on holiday. Everything now I’m saying ‘do you remember when we used to do this?’ and it’s absolutely horrendous.”

Following the birth of her first son Mark Sally began suffering symptoms and was diagnosed with the condition.

“I had a GP come out to me and he said he’d been a GP for over 40 years and he’d never come across a case so bad in his life. He thought I’d been in the tropics because my case was so bad.

“But it just gets worse and worse.”

Today despite GP’s efforts to make Sally more comfortable as well as the help of carers including her husband of 32 years Steve, she cannot move.

She has weeping blisters on her legs and is in agonising pain with lumps in her stomach and legs.

The council adapted a shower upstairs but she cannot get there so instead she has to be washed using a bowl and flannels.

There is also a toilet which has been fitted next to the living room but it always overflows with raw sewerage so Sally is forced to use a commode.

And Sally fears if ever there is a fire in the house, she would be stuck.

Sally, who also suffers diabetes, IBS and gallstones, said: “The only way I can describe it is like I’m walking through stinging nettles.”

However it hasn’t always been the physical effects of the condition Sally has had to contend with after she has lived with cruel jibes from strangers.

Steve, said: “People take one look at her and think she’s eaten too much. They have no idea.

Sally, continued: “I’ve been called tree trunk legs, one chap in Eastleigh said ‘you are disgusting, fancy getting in a state like that.’ I said ‘how dare you talk about me like that’, you should never assume things.”

Sally and Steve say they have spoken to their housing officer about their accessibility issues and were told there were bungalows but they are not available and they have no idea of the waiting time.

The council have told the couple they would not re-house them because they have made adaptations to their home even though they are no longer suitable.

The couple have spoken out for a campaign run by the Leonard Cheshire Disability Charity which believes unsuitable and dangerous housing causes problems like depression and accidents, which end up costing the taxpayer much more than if the homes were better designed in the first place.