A GRANDMOTHER is to tackle a 13-mile sponsored walk to raise money for research into a rare illness that affects her granddaughter.

Despite having suffered from the illness all her life, it was only recently that medical experts diagnosed 12-year-old Bethany Groom's condition as Behcet's syndrome.

There are believed to be only about 2,000 sufferers in the UK and, at present, there is no cure.

The condition affects small blood vessels in the body, and leaves Bethany suffering from chronic mouth ulcers, abscesses, eye inflammation, fatigue and joint pains.

The youngster has been on steroids for a number of years, together with other drugs, to try to control the disease.

She also had a gastostromy three years ago and is tube-fed at night, as quite often her mouth ulcers are too bad to allow her to eat normally.

She has to travel to the Royal London Hospital every three months, with her mother, Jane, because so little is known about Behcet's syndrome elsewhere in the country.

Bethany's grandmother, Debbie Gravestock, 63, from Yarm, near Stockton, has been so impressed with the way her granddaughter has coped with her illness that she is doing a sponsored walk to raise money for research into the disease.

Mrs Gravestock plans to walk from Sutton Bank to Osmotherley, in North Yorkshire, on July 21, with friends Beryl Madin and Pamela Stredwick.

Mrs Gravestock said: "Bethany is very outgoing and just loves to be involved in things, but because of her illness she has had to give a lot of things up.

"She used to love singing, and was a junior member of a Hartlepool choir for about a year. She manages to do sport at school and she goes swimming, but she has had to miss out on a lot of things.

"She stays happy, despite it all, and is full of life. She is very bright, and is doing very well at school."

Mrs Gravestock has so far been pledged £1,000 in sponsorship. Anyone who would like to help is asked to call 01642-784010.