AROUND 100 people stepped out on Saturday to help raise money for a little boy to have a life-changing operation.

Abe Astur, two, was born with a type of cerebral palsy that restricts his movement and so he walks with the aid of a frame.

His mum and dad, Leigh and Gavin, are hoping to raise £50,000 to pay for an operation in the United States that will allow him to walk normally.

Friends, family and supporters gathered in Abbey Gardens in Winchester to raise around £300. So far the family has raised around £20,000.

Leigh, of Manor Farm Green, Twyford, said: “It was amazing. As a family you never imagine you will have to fund-raise. Children in Need on Friday night brought it home, that there are all these families fighting for something. It is strange to think it is us. But we have to just get on with it and do what we have to do.”

Leigh was thankful for the widespread support the family is getting. Wilds Sports, of Jewry Street, produced t-shirts free of charge and Melissa Roche and Sarah Kirk, of Yellow Dot Nursery in Ampfield, were due to run the Gosport Half Marathon on Sunday.