A BRACKNELL mum whose daughter has a rare condition which led to her eating everything including the walls at home is raising money to help her daughter play safely. 


Jenny Gauci wants to be able to let eight-year-old Mia play and run around without fear of hurting herself after she developed life-limiting Rett syndrome aged just two years old. 


Her fledgling campaign hopes to raise more than £5,000 to help kit out a new sensory room and create a safe haven for Mia to play in in the garden.


Rett syndrome is almost always seen in girls and affects the development of the brain, children with the condition regress and lose abilities they had once mastered such as talking and walking. 


In Mia's case, her condition started to deteriorate from 15 months old when she began eating everything from wooden bannisters to the walls of the family home.


Now diagnosed with autism and epilepsy as well, aged two Mia had her first seizure on Good Friday in 2008 and came close to losing her life just last year. 


Jenny said: "The one thing that kills me is that she's lost her words, just saying mummy or daddy would be amazing but she hasn't said anything from the age of five. 


"Mia was a normal, happy child - I hate the word normal but I don't know how else to describe it - and it was just all taken away from her. Eventually she'll lose the use of her legs, and then one day her arms will give up on her, too."


It is too dangerous to let Mia run around the house by herself in case she falls or hits a wall and mum Jenny is expecting a safe, padded 'room inside a room' to be delivered soon but still needs money to pay for balls and cushions, some of Mia's favourite things. 


Jenny, who also has a 14-year-old daughter Paige and a step-son, said: "The room needs cameras so I can keep an eye on her in case she has a seizure and we're busy fundraising for something in the garden so she can enjoy being outside, maybe a sensory shed or a fenced off soft play area.


"I want to be able to do something for her, she's not interested in toys, her toy box is just some balls and a few cushions and it's just so sad.


"Everyone says 'I don't know how you do it' and it's hard to explain but half the time I don't realise I do it, it's just what I do, I'm her mum."


Mia attends Kennel Lane school, which she 'loves' and has just been accepted into Naomi House respite care for 16 days a year giving mum Jenny some rest, but each day has it's own difficulties. 


Jenny said: "It's Mia's birthday in November and she'll be nine, it's not like when we were happy Paige turned 14, with Mia every year that goes by you just know that's another year gone. You almost don't want the birthday to come along. "Important dates really stick in your mind, for me Good Friday is always a bad time, I know that's the day our lives changed forever."


To donate visit www.gofundme.com/miamyangel