A Worle student who has an illness which causes severe fatigue, has challenged herself to a 4ft jump on her horse to raise money for research.

Makayla Nunn, aged 13, was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) when she was eight years old.

Because of her illness, she has had to cut down her hours at school, and give up dancing and sport.

But she says riding her horse Tommy has been her therapy, and she now plans to raise money for Invest In ME.

Makayla, who goes to Priory Community School, said: “This summer the hospital said if I can manage and pace myself I can spend extra time with my horse.

“So because of this I want to challenge myself and Tommy to jump a 4ft jump.

“This will be a challenge as I’ve not been jumping for that long and Tommy has had a bit of a rest from jumping but I know we can do it.

“My family watched me lose so much because of this illness but one thing I didn’t give up was my horses.

“People say because of this illness I’ve lost my childhood as I became ill at eight years of age, yet no-one can give me answers as to why I got ill, or ‘will I get better’ because at the moment there are no answers.

“My hope is that Invest In ME can give me these answers so that’s why I’m raising money for them.”