"I FEEL safe and part of the family here" - when little Libby Thorne uttered those word, her parents knew they had to do something to help her.

Libby, now ten, was born ten weeks early with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

Spastic quadriplegia is the most serious and debilitating form of cerebral palsy and it affects the entire body.

Libby cannot walk and her speech is affected by the condition. She has had surgery almost every year, including hip reconstruction and spinal surgery is likely.

She had been sleeping in a specially adapted room on the ground floor of the family's home in Swaythling.

Every night she woke as much as 20 times, calling out for her mum and dad to go to her.

But when her parents carried her upstairs to share her elder sister's room temporarily, the found she would sleep through the night.

It was then that she explained that upstairs, with her sister and parents, she felt that she was part of the family.

Her parents swung into action, converting the upstairs family bathroom in to a bedroom for Libby and moving the bathroom downstairs.

Since then, every night they have had to carry Libby upstairs to bed and back down every morning.

But the situation is far from perfect.

Libby's parents Zoe and Matthew, have both sustained back injuries from carrying her up and down the stairs and worry about the chance of slipping down the stairs with her in their arms.

But more importantly to them, it means that Libby does not have the freedom that other children her age have, to go to her room on her own.

It might seem like a small thing, but it is another basic part of life for most children her age, that she is missing out on.

So now the family is fundraising to pay for a lift to let her go up to her bedroom herself.

Since she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Libby's parents have worked hard to give her the best life possible.

After she was born ten weeks early, Libby was in intensive care for two weeks and was in hospital for the first five weeks of her life.

"She had quite a few infections and it was a bit touch and go," says Zoe of that time.

"She had an ultrasound of her brain and we knew there was damage but the doctors couldn't confirm the extent of it until she got older.

"We knew there was a good chance that she had cerebral palsy but when she was diagnosed, at nine months, it was still a shock. It was quite heartbreaking." says Zoe.

"My first question to the consultant was 'is she going to die?' When he said 'no', it took that weight off and I thought 'whatever we have to face, we'll face it.

"At first the whole world fell down and we didn't know how we would cope.

"There have been a lot of adjustments for our family."

Libby's family feels that giving her the independence to be able to go to her room or go and play with her elder sister, Tegan, whenever she wants, rather than having to rely on being carried up and down by her parents, will make a dramatic difference to her quality of life.

"It's to help her not feel disabled," says Libby's uncle, Daniel, who has been instrumental thanks in organising a fundraising campaign to pay for a lift to take Libby up and downstairs.

"Just the other week she said 'I don't want to be disabled anymore, Mummy.'"

"We have those conversations with her when she says 'why do I have to be like this?'" adds Zoe.

"We do what we can to try to limit those feelings.

"She asks why she can't run down the garden with her friends, and we can't do anything about that, but we can do something about her wanting to be able to go to her room, like other children."

She adds: "Having a lift will make a massive difference to her. It will mean she can go up to her room if she wants a bit of time to herself or wants to spend some time with her sister.

"It's not just for mine and Matt's health - it's for Libby's independence."

The family have launched a campaign to raise the £7,500 to install a lift for Libby.

"I feel a bit rude to be fundraising," she continues.

"To be asking people for such a large amount of money feels cheeky. The response has been overwhelming. There are people we have never met and they are happy to put their hand in their pocket to give us anything from a fiver to a few hundred pounds."

The family has also received offers of free labour and one of Daniel's business contacts was able to slash thousands off the cost of the lift itself.

So far they have raised almost £3,000 and hope to reach their target by the end of the year.

"Libby is such a funny, cheeky, independent girl, which can be hard because she wants to do everything and give everything a go," says Zoe.

"Whatever her dreams are, we will help her all the way."

To make a donation, visit youcaring.com/liftlibby