THE mother of a severely-disabled teenager with the mental age of a five-year-old has spoken of her relief at her daughter not having to face a fit-to-work medical assessment, but she has vowed to fight on for fellow sufferers.

Ellie McDonald, 19, of Leafield Grove, Eccleshill, is one of only 13 people in the world known to suffer from the rare genetic disorder, Chromosome 7 Deletion.

She was born with a part of a chromosome missing and is living with one kidney, 70 per cent curvature of the spine and other conditions including a tethered spinal cord that has left her with bowel and bladder paralysis.

Her brain injury also means she cannot read or write and has to be sedated to sleep every night.

Ellie was facing the possibility of undergoing a medical assessment at home to prove she needs to receive the full amount of employment support allowance from the Department of Work and Pensions.

This was set to be a six to 12-month wait and her mother, Louise McDonald, was receiving £310 every four weeks for disability living allowance and £141 every fortnight for employment support allowance.

ARCHIVE: MUM'S AGONY IN WAIT FOR BENEFIT AS SEVERELY DISABLED DAUGHTER COULD BE DEEMED 'FIT FOR WORK' 

Now, the DWP has confirmed Ellie will not face the medical assessment and will receive the extra £200 a month in the employment payment.

But Louise has vowed to fight to change the system of medical assessments for cases where the individual is severely disabled, for the families of fellow sufferers.

Miss McDonald said: "It's a relief that Ellie does not have to have a medical. I'm happy that she doesn't have to face this.

"I have won the battle, but not the war.

"There are so many people going through the same thing out there. It is a bizarre system.

"A lot of people can't cope with the stress, it goes on for months and months. People rely on this extra money. It helps with their quality of life.

"I want to take it further to get the criteria changed for the medical assessment when the person is severely disabled.

"Doctors notes and sick notes should be enough.

"You shouldn't have to go through an interview.

"There are so many people in a similar situation to us."

David Ward (Lib Dem, Bradford East) said: "This is common sense at last.

"It was right that people should not simply forever be entitled to any benefits.

"But unfortunately some of the cases we are seeing of people who will never be able to carry out any work have been lost in the system.

"This is another example of that.

"There needs to be more discretion in these types of cases."

A Department of Work and Pensions spokesman said: “Miss McDonald is not required to do a Work Capability Assessment and she has been put in the support group of ESA.

"She has also been paid arrears of £244.98.”

MORE TOP STORIES