A mum is trying to raise £5,000 in sponsorship to get charity status for a new nationwide advice group.

Maralyn Adey came up with the idea for LDHS (Learning Disabilities Hospital Support) after her 27-year-old son Kristian, who has Down’s Syndrome as well as heart and lung problems, spent eight weeks in hospital with a brain abcess. She said the family’s experience while he was a patient at Leeds General Infirmary was not easy because of a lack of communication between consultants and lack of information passed to ward nurses.

Since then Mrs Adey, of Wrose Road, Wrose, Shipley , has created LDHS as a way of helping people in the same situation know their rights and campaign for improvements. To register LDHS as an official charity and start attracting funding she has to pay a £5,000 fee.

“We need sponsorship to get us off the ground. It’s only me and my husband and a few other volunteers at the moment running it,” she said. To support LDHS, go to ldhs.org, e-mail info@ldhs.org.uk or call 07770 882404.