By Emily Adair

A CAMPAIGN for a national charity has raised £24,000 – with the help of a Workington youngster.

Eleven-year-old Lily Murray, from Derwent Road, suffers from hearing loss, and was approached by the National Deaf Children’s Society to be the face of their monthly campaign which shared her experiences through diary entries in a heart-warming leaflet. This shared personal stories of Lily’s day-to-day life as a child with a hearing disability, and was distributed to members of the charity.

Lily’s family hopes the campaign will help to raise consideration for deaf children.

The diary entries written by Lily, whose younger sister Fearne is also deaf, offered an insight into her life. One read: “My friends know how to take turns when talking to me, and to let me see their faces too.”

Lily’s mum, Nicki, said: “We’re obviously really proud that she was used as part of the appeal, it was really well done.”

The NDCS is a national charity that focuses on creating a world without barriers for deaf children.

The Murray family uses the motto ‘#DeafKidsRock’, and they have already managed to raise thousands for the charity through doing The Great North Run earlier this year.

Their youngest daughter Fearne received life-changing cochlear implants in April, and has now learned how to speak, which would have been impossible prior to the surgery. Nicki said: “The operation gave her so much confidence, she can now say ‘Mam’, ‘Dad’ and ‘hi’, which is absolutely amazing.”

Lily embraces her disability and wears pink glittery hearing aids in both ears, she hopes that she can encourage other children to embrace their own differences.