A MOTHER who has made frequent trips abroad to get pioneering treatment for her disabled daughter has set up a charity to help parents in the same dilemma to get help in the UK.

Five-year-old Ava Roberts suffered from multiple seizures when she was a baby, severely limited her development.

Her plight touched the hearts of many, who helped parents Judith and Mark Roberts, of Chester-le-Street, raise thousands of pounds to pay for a trip to the United States and then several trips to Slovakia to get intensive treatment.

Mrs Roberts said similar treatment is now available in the UK and she has set up the charity Families and Conductive Education (FaCE) working closely with Darlington-based conductor Tunde Rosmics.

The charity promotes the rehabilitation of children and young people with neurological motor disorders, most commonly cerebral palsy.

For Ava’s Intensive Therapy (Faith) campaign met with an outpouring of public support, with £12,000 raised to send her to Therapies for Kids in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Nearly £50,000 more was raised for subsequent trips to the Adeli Medical Centre in Piestany, in Slovakia, where she underwent intensive treatment designed to stimulate her muscle growth, including massage and oxygen and speech therapy.

Mrs Roberts said: “She said she never coped very well during the last trip and I think that kind of treatment is past its day for her.

“It is also getting very difficult get her to Slovakia because of the logistics.

“We have decided have a look in England see what there was available and have managed to replicate what we was getting in Slovakia with Tunde Rosmics, who runs Conductive Life Services.

“She has taken conductive education and developed it into a new kind of treatment, where she combines conductive therapy with physiotherapy. It is a holistic approach.

"Tunde comes out twice a week to work with Ava. Ava is doing really well. She is much more alert and is continuing to to develop in the right direction. It's small steps, but she is getting there."

Mrs Roberts said 16 families are already benefiting from the new charity.

For more information visit www.facebook.com/FamiliesandCE