TWENTY miles of mud, cargo nets, tunnels, slides and freezing cold water will not deter a York mum from helping a young boy walk for the first time.

Emily Hussain, 35, is today tackling the world’s largest obstacle course to raise funds to help Felix Williams, her friend Sarah’s son.

The five-year-old suffers from an undiagnosed neurological condition and his family need to raise £10,000 to enable him to attend an advanced rehabilitation centre in Canada. There he would undergo four hours of intense physio daily, giving him the chance to learn to sit, crawl and walk on his own.

Emily said: “Felix’s story really touched our hearts. You just think about how you would feel if you were in that situation. And I would hope that if I was going through that with one of my children, others would try to help. So that’s what I wanted to do.

“They are such a lovely family and Felix is so brave. They are getting there with their own fundraising, but any amount helps.”

Emily and husband Shahab, from Cawood, will tackle the challenge as part of Rat Race’s Dirty Weekend, hoping to raise £200.

York-based Rat Race runs adventure challenges across the UK throughout the year.

Today’s event at Burghley House in Stamford features 200 obstacles including a slide that’s five storeys high, a Gladiators-style uphill travelator, and a foam feature dubbed ‘The Washing Machine’.

It will be the second time Emily has tackled the course, last year completing it with friends.

Emily, who has three daughters, aged three to six, said: “It’s really important that our daughters see us being active and healthy, and it’s good to do things so they don’t just see me as ‘mum’ all the time.“We really enjoyed last year’s event and wanted this year to be for a really good cause. We hope that we can go some way to helping Felix and his wonderful family.”

Felix’s family, who live in Harrogate, have already raised more than £8,500 towards their target.

To support Emily’s fundraising visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/EmilyandShab