A YOUNG disabled fundraiser has been left heartbroken after thieves made off with his wheelchair.

Adam Bowers, 12, has cerebral palsy and cannot walk to the end of his street in Tow Law, County Durham, without suffering an asthma attack.

His wheelchair meant he could play out with his friends and help out at a village general store in his summer holidays, but without it he has been stripped of his independence.

The youngster, who has raised hundreds of pounds tackling sponsored walks for North-East children's charity Yellow Brick Road, has been distraught since the theft from his garden on Tuesday morning.

"My friend came in and said someone had played a sick joke on me. I was just devastated," he said yesterday. I can get around the house okay but I can't go out anywhere without it. I can't be independent."

More than 12 local children formed search parties to find the wheelchair, but to no avail.

Sedgefield Community Hospital has given Adam another wheelchair to use, but he said he found it difficult to use.

"I just want mine back," he said.

"It was a part of me really, and I'd got all the movements on it right - the new one I find hard to handle."

His mother Tracy, 28, said: "They've probably taken it for fun, but he just can't get out or be independent if he hasn't got his chair."

Detective Inspector Ted Edgar, of Bishop Auckland Police, described the theft as "despicable."

He appealed for anyone with information to contact Bishop Auckland Police on (01388) 603566.

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