'He just wants to be a normal kid' - Sheffield sister fundraises for electric wheelchair to help brother with rare muscle disease

Rheann Chamberlain, 22, from Beighton, created a GoFundMe page on behalf of her family to help raise the 12,000 needed to afford her younger brother Lawson Thomas a Trekinetic GTE Wheelchair – which would allow him to transport himself around without the help of adults.

The youngster who struggles to walk and lives in Manor Park, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) – a rare muscle wasting disease that gradually causes the muscles to weaken – when he was four and a half years old.

DMD usually affects boys in their early childhood leaving them with a life expectancy of their early 20s as they lose the ability to walk and slowly other muscles such as their arms, lungs and heart also stop working.

Lawson’s mother, Marie Thomas initially took her son to see a chiropodist years ago after she was concerned about a toenail infection he had but was then referred to a paediatrician, when she mentioned he was developing at a slower rate than his two sisters and was regularly falling over.

The eight-year-old who has lived with the condition for nearly half his life, came out of hospital last week following compression fractures on his spine – something that is common for children with DMD.

While Lawson’s ability to walk will get worse over time with no indication of when his mobility could go completely, his family are keen to get him an electric wheelchair to replace his ordinary one to help him enjoy his childhood.

"He really just struggles to walk, on flat surfaces it is fine he can walk so long but uphill or through woods, or when it snowed the other day he had no chance of getting around”, Rheann said.

"That's why we are trying to get him this new wheelchair so he can take himself off and do what he wants and go at his own pace.

"Whereas at the minute, he is stuck with adults, pushing him and he just wants to go off and do his own thing, it would give him so much more freedom."

A total of £1,832 has already been raised through the donation page – while a friend of Lawson’s family has is also walking 300,000 steps in two weeks to increase funds for the eight-year-old.

His 22-year-old sister explained how the electric chair would transform his childhood after he’s previously been forced to miss out on school trips.

"He just wants to be a normal kid and have independence and freedom which at the moment, he hasn't got.

"That's why at the minute, we are trying to get this as quick as we can because we don't know when he will stop walking altogether.

"It might be this time next year when his legs do give way completely and he won't be able to walk anymore.

"He's a little boy and he's got all this energy that is built up, he can't run it off.

"He struggles a lot to make friends because he does know that he is different and to a certain extent about Duchenne’s.”

Click here to donate.

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