Younger sister Sofia, aged 2, has been going to sleep with her bathers.

Hydrotherapy is a key part of the brothers’ weekly routine, living with degenerative disease Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. 

Dad Leigh Shorter said his boys were still very much busy, active children and the pool, while also fun, would help their strength.

“At the moment they have to be taken out of school to go to sessions at the QE (Queen Elizabeth Centre). At least now, we can have someone come to help here,” Mr Shorter said.

“It’ll be really good for them. They’re pretty active, just like normal little boys. (Specialists) recommend swimming is the best thing for them to keep active.”

To have their own hydrotherapy pool in the backyard has been a dream for the Shorters, even when eight months ago Buninyong-Mount Helen Lions’ club member Simon Jess approached them with the idea. Mr Shorter thought it might take a couple of years for the club to raise the money.

Instead, it became a community effort.

Buninyong-Mount Helen Lions’ Club teamed up with other clubs in the Lions’ District 201V104, includint Haddon, Alfredton, Ballarat and Sebastopol, to reach the $30,000 goal, most made in a car trial. Paver Drew Venville and pool specialists Bridgeswade also helped out.

“”How Lions work is we see someone in need, we all pitch together and work together as a group to help,” Mr Jess said. “We find a project, work on it and go for it...It’s community spirit.”

The pool has been installed and paved specially to cater to the boys’ ongoing and future equipment needs. 

For Sofia, who does swimming lessons, it is a chance to practise her strokes.

DMD is a genetic disorder that almost exclusively affects boys and causes muscle degeneration and weakness. It will likely leave the boys in wheelchairs by age 12.

The Shorters say they continue to be surprised and humbled by community generosity in Ballarat.

This is the second major arrival for their new house. A cubby house store/bakery arrived for Will from Make a Wish Foundation early last month.