Dundee teenager Gary Deasley can have up to 10 epileptic fits a day making him a virtual prisoner in his home.
The 18-year-old from Douglas also suffers from cerebral palsy, which was brought on by encephalitis — a rare condition that causes inflammation of the brain — when he was only five weeks old.
The teen has been a victim of bullies all his life, but Gary’s life got a major boost thanks to charity hero and Tele columnist Charlie Kean and a couple of the lads from Dundee United, Simon Murray and community manager Gordon Grady.
When Charlie heard how awful life can be for Gary, he decided to help and enlisted the help of the United duo to spring a major surprise on him at his home.
Charlie used money from Kean’s Children’s Fund to buy a mobility scooter for Gary to allow him to go out and about without having to worry quite so much about what might happen to him.
His mum Yvonne and stepdad Darren Worsley were in on the surprise but Gary couldn’t believe it when the footballers presented him with the scooter.
Gary said: “This is going to be life-changing — I can’t believe this.
“It’s just incredible and is going to make a huge difference to me.
“I hate leaving the house because I’m terrified I could have an epileptic fit and fall over.
“This can happen up to 10 times a day and I can potentially seriously hurt myself when that happens.
“As a result, I rarely leave the house and there are many days when I never go anywhere.
“I often feel like a prisoner, as do my mum and step-dad because they are too scared to go out and leave me on my own in case I take a fit when they are not here.”
Yvonne said Charlie’s gift was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for Gary.
She added: “Gary spends so much of his time in the house because he is frightened to go out in case he has an epileptic fit when no-one is there to help him.
“It happened in a shop recently which also made him very embarrassed.
“All through school Gary was very badly bullied because of his condition and that’s still happening.
“Bullies have made his life hell and even though he is at college now, there are still people from his school days who pick on him when they see him.”
She said that one day he was out when some boys threw a bottle at him which hit his head and added: “Gary has become very depressed recently both about his condition and about the cruel taunts he receives.
“I just wish the bullies could live a day in his life to see what it’s like for him. He didn’t asked to be like this.”
Darren said there was an operation that could remove the small part of the brain that causes the fits and said they were hopeful doctors would decide that Gary might be a suitable candidate for this.
The cerebral palsy means that movement for Gary down his entire left-hand side is extremely limited and his left hand and arm are paralysed.
Darren added: “Gary has actually spoken about having his useless left hand amputated and replaced with a bionic one.
“We just don’t know if he could have that done and funded by the NHS.
“It’s possible to have it done privately but there’s no way we could afford that kind of money.”
Presenting Gary with his scooter, Simon Murray of Dundee Utd, said the team was always happy to help people like Gary.
He added: “It’s great that Charlie has bought him the scooter and we were delighted to come along.”