A beautiful bike for a boy with cerebral palsy - and a Hartlepool dad praises the people who raised the money

The 11-year-old has cerebral palsy and his dad Martin Butterfield, 35, from Hartlepool, began a fundraising campaign to pay for the specialist £1,600 model to help his mobility.

But when word got out, the money was soon raised thanks to two fantastic sources of support.

One was family friend Tammy Corser who held raffles, football cards and other fundraisers to gather in £1,000. The rest of the total was paid for by Hartlepool charity Miles for Men.

Martin, now of Newcastle, said: “I can never thank them enough. It is such a good thing that they are going out and doing this for local causes.”

He added: “Ellis loves it and he has already played out on it for a couple of hours.

"When he first got it, he kept saying ‘I am going on a bike, I am going on a bike’. He just kept repeating it and he was over the moon.”

The bike is a huge help to Ellis who has limited mobility. It makes his legs work as the bike moves and also has a pull bar for his family to go out with him.”

Martin, whose partner is Laura Gill, added: “Ellis’s mobility is poor and he has walking sticks and a walking frame. But we are hoping the bike will strengthen his legs a bit more. His left side is weaker than his right.”

Tammy told the Mail: “Ellis is a little joy and so is his sister Grace. It is a pleasure to be able to help.”

She said she had seen Martin’s fundraising efforts and ‘thought it would be nice to do something to help them on their way.”

Micky Day, from Miles for Men, said: “We were approached by Tammy about the bike for Ellis.

"As it is something we like to do as a charity, we worked with Tammy. She has done amazingly well in raising funds for the bike and we paid the rest.”

He said the fundraising efforts had been going on ‘since February but Covid-19 struck. But finally, it is an early Christmas present from Tammy and Miles for Men, and thank you to everyone who supported us.”

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