A FAMILY is preparing to take on a major feat to help raise the profile of a life-changing charity.
Mark and Natasha Kenny saw their lives turned upside down when their baby daughter, Tabetha, was diagnosed with athetoid cerebral palsy after she and her twin were born prematurely.
Parents to three girls under the age of two, Mr and Mrs Kenny began to raise their young family but found help and solace with Rainbow House Cumbria.
Mr Kenny has nothing but the highest of praise for the charity which has helped transform the everyday life of 13-year-old Tabetha.
He said: "It's unique in terms of it teaching people fundamental life skills such as eating or talking.
"Some children find it difficult to keep their head up but this is teaching them how to lift them up.
"It's intense physiotherapy combined with basic life skills and has taught my daughter how to go upstairs on her own on her bum. It has given her her independence. She can dress herself and her eating has come on significantly."
Rainbow House Cumbria has been offering these intense courses once a week for the past four years to save Barrow families making the 90-minute trip to Chorley for the specialist treatment.
In the hopes of raising enough money to be able to introduce more regular treatment, Mr and Mrs Kenny have rounded up 70 friends and family members to take on the Coniston to Barrow to raise money for the cause.
Mr Kenny said: "It's really good to raise awareness of the charity. The whole family is doing it. I've done it three times but my wife has done the Keswick to Barrow 10 times."
The couple's daughters, Tabetha and Matylda, both 13, and Anuska, 14, will all be taking part in this year's event.
Mr Kenny has agreed to push Tabetha for the majority of the course in a specially-customised wheelchair but the determined teen has insisted on making the final few steps on her own two feet.
Mr Kenny said: "She's really excited for it and has wanted to do it for some time. We will do the course in the wheelchair but she wants to go over the finish line on her own."
He continued: "It's just really good to raise awareness of the charity. It's about giving her that level of independence right from this age in terms of being able to look after herself."
Read more about amazing people taking on this year's Keswick to Barrow:
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