Corby nine-year-old with Duchenne muscular dystrophy completes bike ride to raise awareness of his condition

A nine-year-old from Corby completed a bike ride at the weekend to raise awareness of his life-limiting condition.

Harry Reid has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a condition which leads to the loss of the ability to walk without assistance. It also leads to cardiomyopathy.

Harry wanted to ride his trike in order to raise awareness of the condition and also because his family has been fundraising to go to America for treatment, which is slowing the condition.

Treatment costs £10,000 to £15,000 each time they go.

According to Harry's mum, Rosemary, these visits have massively helped to slow down the progression of his Duchenne and due to his treatments, he has better mobility at this age and can still do a lot of things that they were told he might not be able to do aged nine.

Rosemary said: “While the medicine he gets in America is working we just need to keep going because we just want him to have a normal childhood for as long as possible, where he has the chance to do things that other children his age actually have the chance to do.”

Rosemary has also been raising money for the charity Fight for Alfie, who organised the study in America, for the last two years.

Fight for Alfie is a charity whose main purpose is to fund the fight against Duchenne muscular dystrophy. All funds raised further the research and study into Duchenne to find a cure.

Rosemary has completed many challenges in order to raise as much money as possible. To date Rosemary has climbed Mount Snowdon, box jumped the height of the Empire State Building, swam the length of the English Channel and is planning to climb Ben Nevis.

As a family, they have also raised money by selling jigsaw puzzles at events. In total, they’ve raised about £50,000 so far.

Rosemary said: “It’s hard going and we’re very lucky because we live in Corby and people in Corby are very generous.

“We’ve got good friends here that have supported us. Harry’s school has been brilliant as well and when we do go out into public, people are kind, people are generous, and they’ve really taken Harry under their wing.”

If you would like to donate visit Rosemary’s JustGiving page.