Tom Willis with sisters Lucy, who is organsing the cabaret show, and Heather.

The brother of a young woman with a debilitating genetic condition spent a day in a wheelchair at Lowestoft Sixth Form College to raise funds and awareness.

Tom Willis wanted to highlight the difficulties faced by people with a disability and collect money to help buy his sister Heather a new lightweight wheelchair.

The 16-year-old, who also pushed the wheelchair home to Carlton Colville, raised more than £65 with the stunt.

The Journal reported last week how Tom’s older sister Heather was a keen performer, singer, harpist and flautist before being diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) – a group of inherited conditions that have left her disabled.

The syndrome, which disrupts the body’s collagen proteins, affects everyone differently but for 21-year-old Heather it means her joints dislocate easily and frequently, and she is often exhausted and in pain.

She can no long play her harp because her shoulders and fingers dislocate when she plucks the strings and she gets dizzy when she sits upright for too long.

Heather, who lives in the centre of Great Yarmouth, struggles to walk more than a few steps and cannot manage the standard, heavier NHS wheelchairs.

To make her life easier, Heather’s family and friends are fund-raising for a £3,500 lightweight wheelchair that she can operate herself – by putting on a cabaret show at Beccles Public Hall on Saturday, March 9.

Tickets, costing £5, are still available for the show, which starts at 7.30pm.

They are available on the door or by contacting Dave Willis on 01502 539569.