SCHOOLGIRL Gemma Carlton is one of a kind.

The ten-year-old has been diagnosed as the only person in the world suffering from a mystery genetic disorder.

Experts are baffled by the condition, which has left Gemma with severe physical and learning disabilities.

Now she is about to become the subject of special study in the British Medical Journal, as efforts are made to identify the illness, which is about to be named "Gemma Syndrome".

Gemma, of Fincham Close, Norton, near Stockton, on Teesside, is confined to a wheelchair, paralysed down one side, and can barely talk.

Genetic experts at The Royal Victoria Infirmary on Tyneside are baffled by the condition.

Her parents were both tested but no abnormalities were discovered which could have accounted for Gemma's condition. Gemma's brothers Matthew, seven and three-year-old James are fit and healthy.

Mother Sarah, 31, and step-dad Stephen Ascough, 35, an engineer, are trying to raise more than £5,000 to adapt their bungalow home to make Gemma's life more comfortable.

Said Sarah: "We knew there was something wrong with Gemma when she was six months old, but she was nearly a year old before we actually found out that it was genetic.

"No one else in the world has what Gemma has. We haven't learnt any more since then, because the medical staff are actually learning from her and looking to her to find the answers."

The experts are certain Gemma's condition will not improve, but the family live in hope of a breakthrough to shed more light on the condition.

Doctors are hopeful that publicity about Gemma, who attends Ashtrees School, Billingham, could lead to similar cases being identified.