A girl born with a cleft palate has inspired her brother to help babies born with the same condition.

Ryan Turner, who goes to Kingsdown School, is supporting a charity that helped his two-year-old sister Isabella.

He is holding a raffle fundraiser on Saturday as part of Cleft Lip and Palate Association Awareness Week.

Ryan said: “Not everyone knows about it. It’s good to spread awareness about different things people are going through, as someone you know could be going through it too.”

Ryan, from Stratton, completed a 50-mile walk in March with his mum Laura, dad Johnathan and grandmother Mandy supporting him.

He raised over £400 and he is hoping the raffle will add to it.

“Isabella is my inspiration for doing it and raising awareness for CLAPA meant raising awareness of Isabella too.

"It makes me scared and so sad that she has a cleft palate as she doesn’t know or understand what she’s going to go through.

“I already walked 50 miles in March for CLAPA and the raffle seemed more fun as anyone can join in.”

Isabella has a submucous cleft palate meaning it is hidden and it took longer to get a diagnosis.

It also took longer due to lockdown and appointments not being face-to-face.

Mum Laura was asked to send a video of Isabella talking, to a speech therapist who diagnosed her in October 2020. She is now waiting for an operation to correct it.

Laura said: “To start with, they couldn’t see anything so I wanted to wait until she was talking so around 18 months.

"The therapist could hear something wasn’t quite right as it’s the back of the throat muscle that makes it difficult with talking and speaking. It’s not very clear sometimes and I have to prompt her and her eating is affected.”

Isabella has been referred to a genetics team to check whether she has any underlying health conditions.

But the youngster is not letting this hold her back and she recently started gymnastics.

“I took her to gymnastics to get her back into a normal world.”

Laura says she is proud of Ryan for being so thoughtful and kind.

“I’m sometimes taken aback as he always wants to help. They are super close, she idolises him. He invests his time into her and does his best to make sure she’s okay.”

To buy raffle tickets and watch the event live go to facebook.com/CLAPA-Raffle-Night-107866468127987