A mother of a two-year-old model with down syndrome hopes to show that the condition is far from being a burden in life.

Deborah Solomon, 45, from Watford will be running 26.2miles in the London Marathon on April 26 to raise money for Mencap, a charity for people with learning difficulties.

Her son Angelo had an incredibly tough journey, with him undergoing lifesaving surgery to repair his intestines when less than a day old at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

He also had three further surgeries to separate his fingers that were fused together.

In hope to find a positive outcome to the diagnosis of Angelo’s down syndrome while she was pregnant, Miss Solomon toyed with the idea of making Angelo a model.

After he was six months old, she signed Angelo to an agency called Zebedee Management, but he was unable to attend casting until November last year due to his hands being bandaged up from the surgery.

Angelo had a successful career at his young age, modelling for brands like River Island and gift store My1stYears.

Watford Observer:

Angelo has modelled for various brands and products.

Miss Solomon added: “Angelo is an extremely confident, happy and resilient little boy with a huge personality and great sense of humour.

“He brings out the best in people and is quite the social butterfly who makes friends where he goes.

“Currently he isn’t walking due to him having hypertonia but will use anything available to assist him with this.

“Chairs, boxes and even our Henry hoover play the part of a walking frame to help him with those first steps.”

Using Instagram as a platform, Miss Solomon hopes to change perceptions and educate people about what having a child with Down Syndrome is like.

Having never run before, Miss Solomon decided just three weeks ago take part in the marathon.

She said: “I’ve kind of jumped in the deep end, but I’ll be able to do it, 100 per cent – I’m not sure if my knees will be able to cope though!”

The money raised will go towards Mencap, which both her and Angelo have been an ambassador for since September 2019.

She called it an “amazing charity” for its work for people like Angelo and wishes that taking part in the run will raise awareness and change perceptions.

She said: “As soon as I heard that Mencap were the chosen charity this year, I felt a little voice whispering that this was something I should do, but a bigger voice was telling me I should stick to cheering on the other runners as I’ve no experience of running whatsoever.”

The mother is hoping to raise £2,000 with the marathon. To donate visit the fundraising page here.