Doctors researching a rare condition affecting a Bradford teenager hope they will have a breakthrough in the next few months.

Jessica Deegan, 13, has the genetic disorder Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP) which affects only one in two million people and turns muscle into bone. She is among 40 people in Britain living with the condition, which leads to progressive disability.

Continued fundraising in Bradford and around the country means vital research into the condition can continue.

Jessica's mother Jean, of Toftshaw Lane, East Bierley, said: "Jessica is quite well and is having no problems at the moment. She started at Whitcliffe Mount School in Cleckheaton in September and has settled in well and made lots of new friends."

Mrs Deegan, who also has a 16-year-old daughter Rebecca, said colleagues at Grattans had raised £520 for the fund and Gildersome Conservative Club had raised £600.

"Researchers have narrowed the gene down to a certain group but they need to find the actual gene responsible for FOP," she said.

"Surgeons can't operate on Jessica without making the FOP worse, so the key is finding the gene. You've got to hope that some day they'll find a cure."

In July, the Telegraph & Argus reported how local folk had raised thousands of pounds for Jessica. The money meant that a doctoral research student could begin a three-year research programme at Oxford University, dealing with the genetic and biological aspects of FOP.

Professor James Triffitt, of Oxford University, said without fundraising, continuing research into the condition would not have been possible. "We had another donation of £8,000 recently which pushes the FOP fund total well over £80,000," he said. "We are now re-analysing the genetic analysis of FOP families both here and in America with more advanced methods. We hope that within the next few months we will be closer to identifying the gene responsible - this couldn't have been done without this money."

He said the identification of the gene would be a "tremendous advance" and would mean big changes in looking at how the disorder was controlled. "The controls of the gene enable us to stop this massive bone formation," he said.

Anyone who wants to help the FOP fund can send cheques payable to Oxford University Development Trust to the Oxford University Development Office, Oxenford House, Magdalen Street, Oxford, OX1 3AB. Senders should enclose a note saying they want it to go to the FOP fund.