An Edinburgh mum has shared her hopes to fund her son's dream degree after he was born with quadriplegic cerebral palsy.
Alex Van Der Byl, suffered a traumatic birth which saw him having to be resuscitated at just minutes old, leaving him with the condition and a number of other health issues.
Going through extensive and life-changing therapies since he was an infant, the 24-year-old's mum, Julie, told Edinburgh Live that she was overjoyed when her son graduated with a first class degree from the Edinburgh Art College last year in photography.
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Finding the camera a way to express his voice, Julie explained that her son has now been accepted for a dream masters course at the Royal College of Art in London. However, with fees costing around £13,000, the mum-of-two shared that due to her secondary cancer diagnosis preventing her from working, she is unable to afford the bills.
Speaking to EL, she said: "When he was born they had to resuscitate him so he suffered a brain injury. He's had hundreds of therapies but he had Bobath therapy and we started that when he was 15 weeks old because we knew he had suffered such a huge trauma. But they really really worked, it was the repetitiveness of it all that helped the pathways in his brain.
"He first got introduced to photography when he was a teenager, he was at Royal High School but it just didn't work for him, it was too overwhelming so he moved to a tiny school called Dunedin, they only have around 22 pupils.
"It was a teacher there who introduced him to a camera and he suddenly started to see things in a different way. For Alex he was saying that photography gave him a voice because he's always had problems with speech and his voice can sometimes be robotic and slow so people would talk for him all the time, and this gave him a way to show his own view of the world and use photography to communicate.
"So that was amazing, and from there he got a higher in it to go to Edinburgh College to do a HNC, and even there he won an excellence award in 2016 and from there he was able to apply for the Edinburgh School of Art.
"It's utterly amazing and you just wouldn't believe it from where he started off in life."
You can donate to the fundraiser for Alex here.
Diagnosed with secondary breast cancer 11 years ago, at the time Julie was given an estimated two years to live, but has defied odds and explained her condition is currently stable.
However, with side effects causing the cancer to spread to her bones, she has been left often unable to work, meaning the extra cost of Alex's tuition will be impossible.
Desperate to see her son continue his education and passion, Julie has launched a fundraiser in the hope of covering the fees, which has already raised over £3,000 in just a few days.
Julie added: "Since January we've been trying to work it out and get the money together to do it, he had just missed out on one scholarship which could have paid for his fees, and I just thought I have to do something or he won't be able to go, but it's just so expensive.
"It will be fairly intense but I think he'll manage it, it's the first time he will be leaving home but he's going into halls of residence so he'll be supported.
"I've been living with secondary breast cancer for 11 years and progressively it's become fairly stable but the side effects from the drugs can be really harsh on my bones. But so far it's managed to stay out of my organs its just my bones, I've had radiotherapy and things which helps but it is long term.
"When you're given two years to live you just think you need to take life in little chunks and so I've been really fortunate but because I know I've had it for quite some time I know that I'm not going to live forever and I hope I can manage to get Alex up and running and able to not need me as much and this is the perfect opportunity for him.
"The donations so far have been amazing, I can't believe it and I'm so grateful and it makes me think we can make this happen. I had no other way of managing to get this together."
You can donate to the fundraiser for Alex here.
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