A TEENAGER who is often bedbound by a debilitating condition which means her joints dislocate almost every time she moves is appealing for help to make her home more accessible.

Jade Gadd, from Durham, has been unable to leave her bedroom for three weeks because of a flare up in the rare condition, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS).

At other times she has had to spend weeks sleeping in the dining room because she cannot get upstairs.

Roz Gadd, her mum, who has a less severe form of EDS, said: “I don’t know how she does it. I have dislocations but not like her and they turn me into a baby. She’s having it all the time and she just deals with it. She has a mind of steel.”

The 16-year-old, who goes to Durham Johnston School, was diagnosed with EDS in 2014 and has since struggled with getting around her home in Newton Hall.

For the last three years her parents have been trying to get funding to install a lift to help her in and out.

But delays mean it has never been installed and they have now been told Jade needs to have downstairs living accommodation, which means making substantial alterations to the house.

Jade, who wants to set up a support group for other disabled young people, said: “What I’m hoping is even when when I’m ill we can have a set up so I can get out in the wheelchair and get to school and can do whatever I want, or whatever my really awkward body does.

“I think it would make a big difference, I would be able to go to school more and be part of family life. I’d be able to have a more full life.”

The family’s situation was made even more difficult when dad Tony, a former police officer, was diagnosed with cancer shortly after Jade discovered she had EDS.

And because Jade needs to much care, the couple have been unable to run their business, Wabi Sabi Academy in Coxhoe.

The grant will only cover around half the cost of alterations and the family has been told to cover the rest.

Mr Gadd said: “It’s been really hard so we’ve pushed and pushed on this issue.

“But we’ve been told we can’t get any of the work done if we don’t have downstairs living so we need to raise at least £30,000.”

To donate visit www.gogetfunding.com/disabled-house-renovations-for-jade.