A CHILDREN'S play centre which helped make a terminally ill Wirral boy's sixth birthday one to remember is going one step further to raise awareness and money for the condition he suffers with.

Bubbles' World of Play will be getting in to the charitable spirit on Monday in order to raise funds for the UK charity Duchenne Now.

Wirral Globe:

It comes after they backed the appeal of Prenton mum Kelly Magee, whose six-year-old son William has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

William turned six on August 19 - a birthday he is sure to remember for a long time to come.

When Kelly appealed for people to send son William a birthday card, she never imagined the response she would get.

Expecting around 20 cards to arrive for William, Kelly told the Globe she couldn’t be more thankful after thousands of people from every continent sent a card.

Kelly set up the ‘Savewilliam’ Facebook page to raise awareness of his condition and funds to research for treatment.

But New Brighton’s Bubbles World of Play soon picked up on her campaign and with her support, the cards started flooding in - 28,491 to be precise.

Kelly’s appeal has also been picked up by national newspapers, with radio stations including Heart and Wirral Radio also promoting the campaign on a daily basis.

Personalised cards website Moonpig has also got involved, offering to send a free card to William for anyone who buys a card for themselves.

Cards from all over the world including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, France, America arrived for William and the soft play centre is still receive cards each day.

He also received a signed photograph sent from Beverley Hills in Los Angeles, from his favourite band Maroon 5, while a kind benefactor has gifted William and his family with a free trip to Disneyland Paris.

“It’s still sinking in. I’m still in a state of shock – the support we have had is phenomenal,” said Kelly.

“It’s completely blown me away from one small post on the Facebook page and as I have said all along, I never ever expected to get more than 20 at most - it doesn’t seem real.

Kelly added: “I just can’t comprehend what has happened. For an anonymous person to donate the trip to Paris, I certainly never could have expected that.

“If you had told me this would happen when I put that post up on Facebook, I would never have believed you.

“I’ve got to start thinking of ideas now of how to top it for his birthday next year.”

Duchenne is a genetic, terminal, muscle wasting condition, affecting around 2,500 children in the UK alone.

It is one of the biggest genetic killers in children. Children lose the ability to walk usually between the ages of eight and 12, then they quickly lose the use of their upper body muscles and simple things like raising a cup to their mouth or turning over in bed become impossible tasks.

As the heart and diaphragm are made of muscle too, sadly they will fail too. This can happen to children as young as 10 years of age.

Following on from the success of the Cards for William campaign, staff at Bubbles’ want to continue to support Duchenne Now, and will be holding a charity day on Monday.

There will be cake sales, charity buckets to donate money to the Duchenne Now, and the centre will be running a raffle through its JustGiving page, whereby people can buy a ticket online to win a free party at the centre, with all the funds donated going towards research for Duchenne MD.

Peter Collard, general manager at Bubbles’ World of Play, said: “We are still a bit bowled over by the success of the Cards for William campaign. It was a wonderful thing to be a part of, and William’s face when he saw all the cards and had the chance to have his birthday party at Bubbles’ was just amazing.

“After working closely with William’s mum Kelly throughout the campaign, and learning about this horrific condition, we want to do everything we can at Bubbles’ to contribute to raising funds for Duchenne Now into research and providing a better quality of life for all the children that suffer with Duchenne MD in the UK.”

Kelly said: “I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for how amazing this has been. We’ve finally finished opening all the cards and I’m still just overwhelmed with the generosity from people.

“Bubbles’ World of Play have been so helpful and I’m really pleased that they will be supporting Duchenne Now on World Duchenne day. I’ll definitely be popping in to pick up a cake or two from the bake sale!”