A 15-YEAR-OLD girl was put in induced coma after weeks of being unable to speak or walk with a mystery illness and one man has stepped up to help her family.

Amber Kurnik lives with her family in Chinnor and recently she has spent weeks being unwell and she has been unable to speak or walk.

Doctors in Oxford decided to put her in a coma to help her body cope and to assist with its recovery.

Amber is the youngest of three children and her mum Tracey Moakes, her brothers, extended family, and friends are all devastated by her illness.

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Ms Moakes spends every day at Amber’s side, and she has resigned from her job to concentrate on being with Amber during this period.

As she does not drive, Ms Moakes relies on lifts and public transport to get to the hospital, and is waiting to get a room at Ronald McDonald House, which has rooms for families.

The doctors believe Amber may have lupus which is an autoimmune disease.

The disease can affect many parts of the body and unfortunately for Amber, it is affecting her brain.

This illness has resulted in seizures, loss of speech and loss of mobility among many other symptoms.

Doctors have said it is likely that Amber will need to learn to talk and walk again.

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Ian Churchill lives in Thame and, as a father himself, after he heard the story, he wanted to help Amber and her family.

He has decided to cycle more than 100 miles from Bournemouth to Thame to raise the money.

The fundraiser plans to set off from Bournemouth on Friday October 9 and camp somewhere overnight.

He will be taking a rucksack with a tent inside on the journey with him and he already predicts that this will be challenging.

Mr Churchill said: “I haven’t trained or anything, I just decided to go for it and just do it.”

Mr Churchill has set up a fundraising web page and has now raised £560 from donations on the site.

The money will be given to Amber’s mum, Ms Moakes, to help her while she is not working and travelling back and forth from the hospital to be by Amber’s side.

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Although he is not a close friend of the family, Mr Churchill said he wanted to help as much as he can.

He said: “I saw the story and thought it was not good. I have got kids and I would like to hope that in my darkest hour with my children, if something were to happen, that someone would step up and do a little bit.”

He added: “I would like to raise more money, but you can only do what you can.”

On the web page Mr Churchill wrote: “This poor family have a very long road ahead. Amber will be in hospital for some time to come and her ongoing recovery will be slow.

“Thankfully Amber has an extremely supportive extended family to support her and her family, but these are extremely tough times.”

Donations can be made on Mr Churchill’s Go Fund Me Page via:www.gofundme.com/f/help-amp-support-for-amber-and-her-family