A mother fundraising for her disabled daughter has thanked charitable members of the public who have donated nearly £9,000.

Ariana-Rose was seven months old when an arachnoid cyst was found on her brain. The blockage causes a build-up of fluid in the head called hydrocephalus.

The parents of the two-year-old, Gemma Kirkby and Chris Van Doorn, started raising money for physiotherapy for their daughter, as sufferers of the condition have weaker limbs making it difficult for them to learn to walk.

Ms Kirkby, 31, said: “When she was diagnosed our world just ended. When it is your kid you don’t expect anything to happen, you think it kind of happens to other people.”

The family, from Arlington Drive, Carshalton, took Ariana-Rose to her GP when they noticed veins appearing on her head.

Following a scan at St Helier Hospital, she was taken by ambulance to St George’s Hospital in Tooting to have fluid drained from her brain.

She was treated there for three weeks.

To donate, visit: justgiving.com/Arianaswish.

Her mother continued: “We lived day to day for a long while outside the hospital.

“We lived out of the boot of our car, sleeping there overnight.”

Ms Kirkby says the NHS can only offer her weekly half-hour sessions of physiotherapy, and so wanted her daughter to be given private treatment to improve her daughter’s mobility.

The twice-weekly hour-long sessions cost £70 each, and have shown great benefits, with Ariana-Rose learning to sit up for the first time.

The treatment has been funded through donations, and the couple has raised £8,912 of the £20,000 target.

Ariana-Rose, who goes to nursery at the Sutton Opportunity Group in Wallington, may never learn to walk independently, but it is hoped she will be able to in future with the help of a frame.

Her parents began fundraising in June last year, and have received donations from friends, family members and the general public.