A SPORTY teenager has been granted a new lease of life thanks to the generous people of Middlewich.

Amy Hutchinson, from Chadwick Road, suffers from spina bifida and hydrocephalus and last year she launched an appeal for help in buying a specially-adapted wheelchair.

Community groups, family and friends and local schools immediately got on board and just a few months after launching her fundraising campaign, Amy raised the £3,600 she needed for the chair.

The 16-year-old said: “I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped. Without their money, it would have taken a lot longer.

“I especially wanted to say thank you to the people who donated but weren’t aware I’d actually got it, and might never have known.

“It’s given me the chance to get out with my family and get involved with more sports. It’s given me so much opportunity.”

The sports-mad teen refuses to let her disability get in the way of her active lifestyle and plays badminton and basketball, and even represents Saint Nicholas High School at boccia.

She launched the appeal after she outgrew her old chair and her new one is custom-made, lightweight, adapted for sport and has an attachment for cycling.

The £200 left over from the fundraising campaign was spent on gloves and an extra set of off-road wheels.

Now Amy, who recently qualified as a wheelchair basketball coach, wants to help others in her position.

She runs a sports club for disabled children at her school and she has teamed up with an ITV-run scheme, Fixers.

Fixers is a movement of young people tackling issues they feel strongly about to make a difference to others.

In the next few months, a crew will be following Amy as she tried to raise awareness of disabled teenagers in sport.

She added: “My aim is to bring disabled people together to share experiences and raise awareness of our needs so that facilities can be improved.”