A TILLINGHAM teenager celebrated her birthday, and her A-level results by adding to her £13,000 fundraising total with a charity event on Saturday.

Ellalouise Middleton, 18, picked up her A-level results from Ormiston Rivers on Thursday, fundraised for the Dystonia Society on Saturday, and celebrated her 18th birthday on Sunday.

Ellalouise suffers from Dystonia, a neurological illness that affects the brain, attacking nerves and muscles in the body.

It causes painful and uncontrollable muscle spasms due to incorrect signals from the brain.

The illness is estimated to affect at least 70,000 people in the UK and has its own dedicated charity, the Dystonia Society.

As well as hospital visits and days off ill, Ellalouise has spent a lot of time working to fundraise for the charity, and so was over the moon after finding out how well she had done in her exams.

She said: “I am amazingly proud. I never thought I would get that. I thought I was going to do rubbish.

“I was always in hospital through sixth form and all the way through school. I don’t know how to explain it. From being diagnosed, to being in hospital, to getting these results shows how much I have worked for it.”

Ellalouise was one mark off an A* in her CACHE assignment, which focuses on working with children up to the age of seven.

It is seen as a pathway into teaching and midwifery which is something Ellalouise is interested in taking up.

However, she didn’t have long to celebrate her results, as 48 hours later, she was in Southend, hoping to raise even more money for the Dystonia Society.

Since beginning her fundraising three years ago, Ellalouise has raised over £13,500 for the charity.

On Saturday, she organised a team of six people to pull a fire engine at the front of the Southend Carnival parade, collecting £1043.

“It went so well,” she said. “There were so many people there, it was amazing.”

“Thankfully we didn’t run anybody over with the fire engine. A couple of policeman came a bit close but luckily they managed to get out of the way.

“I am just grateful that people have donated and supported us through the last two or three years that we have been fundraising.

“I am glad to be able to raise awareness as much as money, because a lot of people don’t know about Dystonia and certainly don’t know about the Dystonia Society.”