A MAN from Surbiton is to swim the Channel to raise vital funds for a little girl with cerebral palsy to have progressive treatments in Canada.

Tom Garrett, of Kingsdowne Road, will take on the 18.1 mile swim between September 23 and 28, weather permitting, and will swim for about 13 hours.

Mr Garrett, who recently moved from Chessington, is raising the funds for friends Hayley Lyon and Danny McLaren’s child Poppy, five, who was born with undiagnosed pneumonia and developed cerebral palsy.

Miss Lyon and Mr McLaren, who live in Wallington, have since taken Poppy for treatments in Canada, where she has had a month’s worth of intense therapy which has proved “ground breaking”.

Miss Lyon said: “Poppy’s level of damage was very severe and we were told that she would never walk, talk, sit, crawl or even eat and drink orally.

“As a result of Poppy having this ground breaking therapy she has learnt to roll, sit, crawl and even take some steps with a walker. She eats and drinks just like everyone else, and can even feed herself – although it’s very messy – but she’s getting better.

“We also see a fantastic speech therapist in Canada and Poppy now has 60 words and can fully communicate with us using speech to tell us what she wants.

“To fund the therapy we constantly fundraise. We put on lots of different events and we are very fortunate to have such great friends and family who all help us out.”

Mr Garrett has so far raised £1,632 of his £5,000 target.

He said: “I want to continue to raise funds to allow Poppy to carry on this treatment. The hope from everyone who knows Poppy is that one day she will be able to walk aided or unaided herself.”

To donate, visit goo.gl/5rKWcf