AN appeal to buy paralysed teenager Ben Conolly a machine to maintain his muscles has reached its £13,000 goal.

Ben, 17, was struck by paralysis in October 2013, days after being diagnosed with leukaemia, and spent last Christmas in Bristol Children’s Hospital.

Now, after a year of fundraising by friends – including half marathons, a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro and an epic cycle from Sheldon School to Paris – Ben has taken delivery of a Functional Electronic Stimulator, and with it hope for the future.

The bike, from the USA, stimulates the blood to nerve endings, stops pressure sores and exercises muscles that would otherwise waste away. Ben’s family says it is vital to his prospects, as advances in spinal cord injury treatments have given patients hope of one day being able to walk again.

Mother Suzi, of Malme-sbury Road, Chippenham, said: “It’s a brilliant bit of kit. It brings tears to my eyes to see his legs moving. Benjamin is elated. We are so very grateful for the generosity of everyone who helped us.”

She added: “It’s been a fantastic Christmas, all of us together. Last year, I cooked dinner at the CLIC Sargent house and took it in, but when the nurses went to get him he passed out. I don’t remember anything passing my lips that day, I was just so cut up. This Christmas was completely different.”

The Winkle Club, a charity based at the Old Road Tavern, and Chippenham’s Lions Club, helped reach the appeal goal with a donation of £1,000 each.

Derek Angell, Lions welfare committee chairman, said: “The club agreed unanimously that we wanted to help after we read about Ben in the Gazette.

“He has been dealt a bad hand and it is very pleasing if we can help give him a reason for optimism for the future.”

Mrs Conolly said: “It all started last December with Tommy Burroughs’ headshave. I didn’t think we would ever raise that amount.

"We’ve been so spurred on by people approaching us and offering their help; we feel so privileged and so lucky that so many people around us have put themselves out.

"Knowing they are there for us has made life so much easier.”