NIGHT-TIME has been transformed for five-year-old William Reed and his parents thanks to the generosity of family and friends.

William, from Middlewich, suffers from severe epilepsy caused by tumours on his brain, which are the result of the condition tuberous sclerosis.

He fits constantly, and needs a safe, padded bed where he can sleep and play without hurting himself.

A colleague of William’s parents Rebecca and David decided to help, and set up an online donations page in a bid to raise the £6,000 needed to buy a specialist bed.

The online appeal was a great success, and William is now sleeping in his new bed, complete with padded jungle-themed surround.

“We are amazed at how the new bed has already made a vast difference to William’s sleeping patterns and behaviours,” said Rebecca, 30.

“As a family we were so overwhelmed by everyone’s kindness and generosity when they donated money through the justgiving site that a colleague set up.

“We wanted to say a huge heartfelt thank you to everybody who made my special little boy’s life that little bit easier.

“I now have the confidence to leave him knowing that he is safer, and it has performed miracles, with him now occasionally sleeping through the night, which had never been achieved before.

“William deserves the absolute world, he is an amazing little fighter, and my family and I are overcome with emotion and gratitude knowing that he has touched so many people’s heartstrings. Thank you to everyone.”

Until the arrival of the new bed William was using a normal single bed with a guard, which he could fall out of and was liable to bang his head on the wall during the night if he had a fit.

In addition cameras have been fitted in William’s bedroom linked to other rooms in the house so that William’s parents can check that he is OK.

Rebecca is a teacher at St John’s Primary School in Macclesfield and David is a police officer at Northwich.

The donations page was set up by Helen Whiteley, who also teaches at St John’s School.