A NEWPORT boy and the South Wales hospice which supports him were awarded funding from the Prison Service Charity Fund.

Pat Van Den Heede, of Hampshire Crescent, Newport, applied for a donation from the fund to help her family and friends fundraising effort for her three and a half year old grandson Dylan Brooks.

Dylan, who lives with his mum, Hannah Cohen, 24, and his three siblings, Elishia, seven, Anthony, six, and Shakira, two, at Coltsfoot Close, Newport, has severe cerebral palsy.

He is also blind and suffers from periventricular leukomalacia which has caused part of his brain to die and fill with water.

The family were raising money to buy the toddler a special rotating car seat to make it easier for them to take him out and about , as well as for Ty Hafan hosice which helps him.

Mrs Van Den Heede, who has worked for the Prison Service for 10 years, applied to the charity, which is funded directly from contributions from the UK’s 6,500 prison service employees salaries .

And she was delighted when the charity, which aims to top up employees fundraising efforts, agreed to double the £720 the family had managed to raise at a recent entertainment night at the Ferns Club in Newport.

And the family received a further boost this week when Ty Hafan, where Dylan is currently having respite care having recently been released from the Royal Gwent hospital, was awarded one of 10 national grants of £1,000 from the charity.

Mrs Van Den Heede, said: "We’re delighted."

The family are now hoping to raise around £600 pounds for a ‘P Pod’, a special bean bag which will support his spine, with another fund raising night at the Ferns in June.