Car mad boy fundraising for powered wheelchair

Noah loves playing with his huge toy car collection

The family of a car mad boy who has a muscle wasting condition is fundraising for a powered wheelchair so he can play with his friends again.

Noah Stevenson-Lea, nine, from Shropshire has muscular dystrophy which has weakened the muscles in his legs.

His parents set up an online fundraising campaign to buy him a powered chair so that he will be able to continue sports in the playground.

He is waiting for an NHS wheelchair to use at home, his mother said.

Noah enjoyed sitting in a Ferrari at a super car experience day

Noah was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy aged three but started to struggle to walk during the coronavirus lockdown.

Mum Sally Stevenson-Lea said Noah could not run around in the playground any longer and was worried about falling over.

"He's got a good bunch of friends that he's known since nursery and they are really good with him," she said.

"But he can't join in with everything so he stands at the sidelines and tends to watch.

"The [powered wheelchair] will open up his world again and let him join in."

Noah said he felt happy when he heard people were helping him to get a powered wheelchair

Noah is taking part in a clinical trial at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool to develop a drug to repair muscles in children who have muscular dystrophy, she said.

Mrs Stevenson-Lea, from Lawley in Telford, said she had been "overwhelmed" by the support for their campaign to raise £20,000 for the all terrain chair.

Noah said he wanted his chair to be "blinged up like a super car" and that he wanted to "whizz around the playground and play basketball".