An appeal has been launched to help fund a special mobility vehicle for a youngster with a severe form of cerebral palsy.

Emily Wood, 9, from Offord Cluny, needs a vehicle which can carry her electric wheelchair which will not fit in her family’s car.

Now a Crowdfunding campaign has started to help her family raise the £7,000 they need towards the cost of a specially modified vehicle with a ramp which will enable the chair and Emily to go straight inside.

Nearly £1,500 has already been raised.

Mum Sam Nobles, 39, said Emily would never be able to walk, talk or be able to live independently.

The youngster was born at 28 weeks and then spent three months in the special care baby unit at Hinchingbrooke Hospital. She was born with a chronic lung condition and there were doubts whether she would survive.

Sam said they were heartbroken when they found Emily had spastic quadriplegia, affecting all four of her limbs.

Emily also has had numerous operations on her hips and feet and has damage to the nerve cells in her brain. She is on a range of medication and needs 24 hour care.

Sam said: “I think because she was my first I just got on with it. You either get on with it or sit in a corner and crumble.

“At the end of the day she needs my help.”

Sam, whose son Leon, 6, is on the autistic spectrum, said the mobility vehicle would give Emily more independence.

“She has got an electric wheelchair which, unfortunately, will not fit inside my car and it is so heavy I cannot lift it,” said Sam.

She said she and partner, Vincent Wood, needed a disability vehicle with a ramp which could also hold Emily’s manual wheelchair.

Emma Hewitt, who is involved in the campaign, said: “Sam is a lovely lady who will help anyone. This time she needs help.

“Emily is a very happy little girl who is addicted to her iPad.”

Emma said fundraising had been running for about four weeks and they were now looking for other events to raise more cash.

Donations can be made to: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sam-nobles.