A CHARITY that supports families of children and young adults with neurological disorders has recently helped its 200th family.

Created in 2008, the Footsteps Foundation in Dorchester helps families with the cost of intensive three week physiotherapy sessions at the Footsteps Centre.

Some families bring their children for four to six sessions per year and have to find the funds for the therapy as well as travel and accommodation costs.

More than 60 per cent of the sessions taking place at the centre are funded at least in part by the foundation.

Elliott Baker, eight, has been visiting the centre regularly since the age of three and receives funding from the foundation.

Head of fundraising Tina Jacobs said: “At his first visit he could sit unaided but could not crawl or hold his weight in a crawling position, although his family had been trying to help him do this for over two years.

“After three weeks he was able to crawl across the room and now he can walk around his home independently without the help of a walker.”

Last year, Elliott shocked his family by going into school and walking unaided to assembly.

The whole school cheered him on and he received a headteacher’s award for his achievement.

Elliott’s family have received grants towards the cost of sessions at Footsteps, which they said really helped take the pressure off the need to fundraise.

His mother, Caroline, said: “Without the grant, Elliott would still be sitting on the floor.”

The foundation recently applied for £9,000 funding from the Aviva Community Fund to use towards specialist intensive physiotherapy sessions.

The money would fund six lots of three-week sessions or 180 hours of therapy.

Innovative therapy pioneered in Poland is used at the centre involving a piece of equipment called the Spider – a metal frame with elastic cords attached.

A child is comfortably suspended in a harness, allowing even those with very limited mobility a sense of relative weightlessness and freedom. This enables specially trained therapists to encourage the child to move in ways he or she is usually unable to.

Over time, this builds strength and can lead to dramatic increases in mobility.

The Footsteps Foundation need to raise £20,000 every year for its family grants.

Ms Jacobs said: “We are currently 50 per cent of the way there and we are already looking forward to some exciting events, which will give people the opportunity to support us.

“In September, we will be participating in the Abingdon Dragon Boat Race and in the next few months the Marketing Practice in Wantage are set to do a 175-mile sponsored cycle.

“We’re always grateful for any support from the community.”