Anger over sick boy's grant delay

Russell finds it more and more difficult to get upstairs

The parents of a Kent teenager with a degenerative disease are angry a council grant to build an extension for him will be delayed by at least a year.

Russell Cartwright, 17, has Batten Disease which caused him to go blind and means he has little muscle control.

The Thanet council grant was to pay for an extension to be built downstairs but now his parents, of Ramsgate, have been told the council has run out of funds.

The council said it was sympathetic but the delay was due to limited resources.

It is a progressive disease which means it will just get worse and worse Dave Cartwright, father

Russell was diagnosed with Batten Disease at the age of six which caused him to go blind by the age of seven.

He is slowly losing control of his muscles and suffers fits and his parents are desperate to provide a proper space for him downstairs.

His father Dave Cartwright said: "It is a progressive disease which means it will just get worse and worse.

"So we need whatever we can to make his life easier."

Tracey Cartwright, Russell's mother, said: "He will not be able to go upstairs soon like he does now."

'Hurts sometimes'

"It is hard to get up the stairs and it hurts sometimes when his legs have got pain."

Thanet Council has said it cannot process the grant until at least December 2005.

In a statement, it said: "The council is sympathetic to the Cartwright's circumstances.

"We have investigated their case and done everything to process their application and the occupational therapist bureau have assessed their need.

"However the situation we now find ourselves in is that due to limited resources we cannot pay the grant until December 2005."