A boy who cannot walk on his own finally has the essential equipment he needs after his local community raised nearly £5,000.

Physios said Tomas Powell, from Rainham, needed a new walker as he’d outgrown the one he had but Medway Council refused to fund one because of a disagreement over where it would be kept.

The 12-year-old’s parents posted a plea on their community Facebook group in September and were encouraged to start a fundraiser so friends and neighbours could donate to help meet some of the cost.

Initially, Tomas’ mum Emma said the family was only looking for half the cost, with the Powells paying for the rest, but supporters raised the full amount within 24 hours.

Tomas has a rare condition called Pelizaeus Merzbacher disease which affects 1 in 500,000 boys. It means he has complex needs and limited mobility and requires a wheelchair or a walker to get around.

He’d been using a walker since he was seven but in September last year physios recommended the Powells apply for a new one as the one Tomas had no longer gave him the support he needed.

Tomas had grown too tall, meaning his arms were at risk of getting caught in the spokes of the walker’s wheels, and the headrest didn’t come up high enough to support his head properly.

Emma said his walker provided Tomas with so much joy, and at school he used it to run errands for teachers which offered a fun opportunity to move around.

Now the specialist walker has arrived and Emma says it has given her son a whole new freedom to move and exercise.

She said: “This one fits him much better. He's got much more growing space, much better head support and he stands up much straighter than he did before.

“He's got more freedom and he's more independent because before we had to stand behind him and hold his head or kind of help him steer.

“He can concentrate more on the walking, because in the old one he had to focus on trying to hold his head up and stand up straight before any part of the walking.

“So now he can just concentrate on where he wants to go and off he goes, and it means he’s so much happier.”

She said they were all incredibly grateful to the people who donated.

Emma continued: "This was massively down to the generosity of people in Rainham and around our area and when we post the videos on Facebook, everyone's so happy to see that he's finally got what he needed.

“It restores your faith in humankind, doesn't it? Especially when things are difficult for everybody at the moment, for them to give to someone they don't know to make his life better, it's just really heartwarming.”

The fundraiser fully paid for the walker. Any remaining money will be used to keep it maintained so Tomas can use it for as long as possible.

Because the Powells were originally going to pay half the cost themselves, they intended to forgo a family holiday.

But, after encouragement from donors, they used the money they would’ve spent on the walker on a holiday to Spain instead, to celebrate Tomas’ 12th birthday.

Emma added: “When the weather’s a bit better we’re going to do a community walk and we’d love to say thank you to as many people as possible at that.

“We just want to meet and thank everyone in person who has been able to help Tomas. This walker is going to last him a long time, helping him get stronger and stronger, and I think he’s really going to thrive in it.”

Emma said following her appeal, Medway Council’s deputy leader Cllr Teresa Murray (Lab) got in contact to talk about the issue.

Emma raised the problem of families having to buy their own equipment but then - because the equipment isn’t owned by the authority - being refused any help with the maintenance.

She said Cllr Murray had agreed to look into what the council could do to be more lenient in helping families in this situation and find ways support could be provided.