Seven-year-old from Albrighton who has up to 60 seizures a day needs travel bed

Rhys Thomas, from Albrighton, can have up to 150 seizures without medication, and regularly has to be taken to hospital.

He has the developmental age of a nine-month-old. Each seizure affects his brain, resetting it so he forgets anything he has learned, even whether he’s eaten lunch.

His family say that this year Rhys has been rushed to hospital four times, once via ambulance with suspected sepsis – but each time was sent home because the hospital didn’t have a safe bed for him.

Rhys really needs a Safespace Voyager, a specialist safety travel bed, that would allow him to be properly cared for in hospital, and would even allow him to go for respite care.

The bed that Rhys needs costs £2,899, far beyond the family’s budget. They’ve now turned to the Newlife charity, who is working to raise £1,906 to be able to help.

Sheila Brown, the charity’s CEO, said: “We would urge anyone in the Albrighton area who can help this family to get in touch. This really needs to be a community effort to make sure that if Rhys needs to be admitted to hospital then he can.”

Daniel, Rhys’s dad, said: “During the night, Rhys can have between 10 and 20 seizures – they are quite violent and he has no spacial awareness so if he is in a standard bed or a bed with hard sides it is likely that he will injure himself.

"We can’t really stay overnight anywhere because of the risk – we have done it once this year and Rhys had to sleep in a modified ball pit.”

Anyone who is able to help Rhys should contact Newlife on 01543 431444. To donate £10 text RHYS10 to 70070, email local@newlifecharity.co.uk or visit the website at newlifecharity.co.uk/shropshire

Any money raised above what is needed for Rhys’s special bed will be used to help other disabled and terminally ill children in need across Shropshire.