A Maryport teenager is the face of a charity’s campaign to raise awareness of muscular dystrophy.

Mitchell Hill, of Victory Crescent, is this year’s Muscular Dystrophy UK young ambassador for Cumbria and has raised £450 so far for the charity.

The 14-year-old Workington Academy pupil was diagnosed with Becker muscular dystrophy in 2009 and hopes to educate people about the muscle-wasting condition while raising funds for the charity to improve treatment and work towards a cure.

Mitchell struggles with fatigue, which makes climbing stairs or playing sports difficult, and must use a wheelchair to cover long distances.

He attends a specialist muscle clinic twice a year to monitor any deterioration in his muscle function and has regular heart scans as his condition can cause cardiomyopathy.

Joanne, Mitchell’s mother, said: “Mitchell is one of these people who takes everything in his stride.

“When he was diagnosed we didn’t realise the impact it would have on the whole family.

“We were all in shock and I wanted to wrap him up in cotton wool.

“We’ve toughened up now and we deal with things as they come along.

“We’ve had people say ‘Well he looks fine’ and it’s that sort of attitude we want to change.

“When Mitchell was younger we had a couple of children who didn’t really understand and said he was lazy but Mitchell educates them himself.

“In Mitchell’s mind he wants to raise millions for the charity.

“We’ve always told him that if somebody tells him he can’t do something, we’ll find a way that he can.”

Mitchell has been supported by his local cosplay group and the Owl Blue Children’s Charity along with friends, family and teachers.

The family has raised money for the cause over the years by holding fun days and cakes ales, while Mitchell’s mum Joanne completed a sky dive in 2015.

This year they have made pin badges to sell and are collecting selfies of people wearing their sunglasses as part of the charity’s latest campaign.

Mitchell is a big rugby league fan and hopes local teams will join in by posting their own.

“He’s hoping we’re going to make a big collage of them and find somewhere for that to continue to raise awareness,” Joanne added.