A gym is supporting a family's bid to build a sensory room to give a disabled 12-year-old boy a place to play.

Dexter Asiedu, who is severely mentally and physically disabled and also suffers from a rare blood condition, needs a specially adapted safe play area.

His mother Janice Edmunds, sisters Nicole, 16, and Dionne, 14, and brother Ethan, four, have been struggling for several years to raise money to build a separate room in the garden of their home in Purslane Drive, Bicester.

Now The Fitness Company, where Nicole works part-time, has stepped in to get the appeal going and help raise £2,000.

Ms Edmunds, 42, said Bardwell School pupil Dexter was born 10 weeks premature and has been in and out of hospital most of his life. About five years ago he developed autoimmune haemolytic anaemia, a condition where he produces antibodies which destroy his own red blood cells.

Ms Edmunds said: "At first we thought he was anaemic, but he just got worse and worse.

"He has been in life-threatening situations at least three times, but he pulled through."

He now has monthly blood tests to watch his haemoglobin levels and if it dips he must take medication.

Ms Edmunds said: "His mobility has gone completely and he is wheelchair bound.

"We wonder how he still survives, but Dexter is a one-off."

She added: "We have been struggling for years to get a sensory room for him. He has his own bedroom, but there is nowhere for him to play. He is wheelchair bound and has nothing to do."

Filling the room with sensory equipment will be expensive -- items start at £300.

Ms Edmunds said: "We want to get the structure up, and flooring and padding in, so he can go in there and play. All the other things can come as we can afford them."

Richard Birchall, Fitness Company director, said: "Life could not have been easy for Janice and her family. We have our fourth birthday celebration coming up and usually do something for a local charity. We talked about Dexter and thought what a good thing to do."