A Melbourn mum has reached the halfway point in her year-long walking challenge for the National Deaf Children's Society.

Tess Torjussen was inspired to take on the challenge after her baby son Lucas was identified as deaf at eight weeks old. He is now one and has had cochlear implants fitted - with the family receiving ongoing support from the charity.

Her challenge is called '50,000 steps for 50,000 kids', to raise awareness of the number of deaf children in the UK, and involves walking at least 50,000 steps each week for a year.

Tess has now completed 1.7 million steps, over half the 2.6 million she plans to complete by the end of December, and is 33 weeks into her challenge. The total distance she will cover is equivalent to Land's End to John O'Groats and back again.

She said: “I’ve had some fantastic support from my colleagues who joined the challenge in July and added a further £600 to the fundraising total.

“Lucas had his cochlear implant surgery in June, which was a success, but I was pacing the hospital corridors during the wait and racked up 20,000 steps in one day!

"The hot weather has made it really hard to step out with the buggy during the day so there have been a few very early dog walks to make up my steps and some long Friday evening walks when I’ve been falling short of my step count.

“The last year has been such a huge learning curve for us; making some big decisions on behalf of Lucas, understanding deaf culture, learning British Sign Language and about speech and language development.

"We’ve also encountered so much kindness and support from organisations and professionals like the National Deaf Children’s Society.”

Tess, who works in marketing in Biggleswade and lives with her husband Drew, his 13-year-old daughter Mairead, and baby Lucas, has almost doubled her fundraising target of £1,000.

Melissa Jones, who supports fundraisers for the National Deaf Children's Society, said: "I want to say a massive congratulations to Tess for taking on this epic challenge for us and smashing through the halfway point ahead of schedule.

"50,000 steps every week for a year is a huge commitment and we’re so proud of her."

To donate go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/teamtorj