A “FUTURE paralympian” with extremely rare disorders has been awarded a Disabled Achievement Award on her ninth birthday.

Isabelle Hibbert was presented with the award on Friday at the Bolton Active Sport Awards, which celebrates the sporting heroes of Bolton.

The nine-year-old suffers from severe, life-threatening, difficult to control, complex epilepsy which causes her to have regular seizures.

Isabelle has two rare chromosome disorders, making her the only person in the UK with one and the only female in the world with the other.

Despite her condition which can make it hard to stand at times, Isabelle is a dedicated and determined runner.

The awards organisers said: “She is a massive inspiration how every single day she doesn’t let anything get in her way.”

Isabelle has taken part in IronKids, Manchester Junior Run and other charity runs.

Last year she finished IronKids in seven minutes and her fastest time at the Manchester Junior Run is 12 minutes.

Proud mother Toni, who runs every race with her daughter, believes that Isabelle loves to run because it gives her complete freedom.

Toni, aged 26, said: “I struggle keeping up with her. Sometimes she needs a wheelchair so she doesn’t run off.”

She told of how the crowd “went wild” at IronKids three years ago when Isabelle jumped out of her wheelchair to complete the race.

Isabelle has a history of prolonged seizures that resulted in her regularly needing life support machines.

Her mother said that she once started running around the intensive care unit within ten minutes of recovering from one of these seizures.

Isabelle’s rare disorders have caused her to have severe learning disabilities and behavioural issues.

She receives one-to-one care at Green Fold Primary School, a special school in Farnworth catering for children with a variety of complex educational needs.

Her school carer joined her on stage at the award ceremony where her grandparents, aunts and cousin joined the celebrations.

Following the award, Isabelle and Toni were approached by Welsh Olympic sprinter Iwan Thomas who asked for a photo with the young sporting hero.

Now, Toni wants her daughter to become the youngest person to compete for Britain in the paralympic games, a record currently held by Joanne Rout who won two gold medals aged 12.

She said: “We’ve still got a few years.”