MORE than 100 young performers are taking to the stage to raise money for Colchester General Hospital’s children’s ward.

The show is being organised by dance teacher Lisa Hills, whose six-year-old son, Thomas, has been treated there for a rare condition which prevents him eating normally and restricts his growth.

Mrs Hills, of Robertson Close, Clacton, said: “The children’s ward has done so much for him.

“He wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the doctors and nurses there.

“The staff in the ward and the day unit for children are just amazing.”

Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London, diagnosed Thomas with condition, eosinophillic mucousol, when he was four months old.

As a result, he can only eat special food through a tube, while a gut problem means Thomas is still the size of a two-year-old. She added: “He can swallow, but reacts badly to food – as if it was a foreign body. It can stop him breathing.”

Mrs Hills has already raised a lot of funds for the children’s ward, and Thomas’s image features on the ward’s fundraising leaflets and posters.

Mother-of-four Mrs Hills, who runs the Dance House, is working with the Smooth Grooves dance group and Clacton-based Bebop Stage Academy to organise the dance show, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, at the Columbine Centre, in Princes Esplanade, Walton, on December 18 and 19.

Tickets cost £5.50 for adults and £3.50 for children and can be booked by calling 01255 851505.