WONDER mum Sandra Young has scooped an award for the way she dotes on her family.

Judges singled out the 45-year-old for the Asda West Swindon Wonder Mum award after reading about her hectic life.

As well as looking after her husband, Doug, 45, and 18-month-old daughter Emily, she gives round-the-clock care to her son, Ben, who suffers from a rare condition.

The four-year-old has a debilitating genetic disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy which means his brain cannot communicate with his muscles, leaving them weak and wasted.

Before taking Ben to Westlea Pre-school, Sandra, who will receive the award on Thursday, has to feed him via a tube.

This is repeated throughout the day to ensure he receives enough nourishment.

Sandra, of Wyndham Road, West Swindon, also gives the youngster daily physio-therapy and, because he is unable to move, she sometimes has to get up and turn him several times a night.

It was this devotion, described in a letter written by her husband and the pre-school, that won her the prize.

"I'm still in shock because I didn't know I had been nominated," she said.

"I don't think I'm a wonder mum I just cope like every other mum copes.

"Every mum is a wonder mum I just have a few different challenges."

In his nomination letter, Doug listed some of his wife's other tasks.

These include making sure more than 200 hospital appointments have been made and kept, and helping Ben, who has appeared on television and in national papers, cope with the media spotlight.

"Sandra considers what she does for Ben to be her sole responsibility and her precious little boy and lovely little girl both come first," said Doug, a director of a human resource software company in Malvern.

"Sandra has her moments of tears, perhaps in the shower, out of the way of the kids. But when she comes out of her private gloom into the open she is smiling again."

Sandra does not know yet what she has won but the mystery will be solved on Thursday.

In a bid to find new treatments for their son, the couple have spent hours researching on the internet. They are still waiting to hear whether he will qualify for trials of the dug Valporic Acid (VPA) normally used by epilepsy sufferers to see whether it can help.

Ben could be selected from a registered list of sufferers for testing.

Jeremy Kinsey, manager of the Swindon-based Asda store, said they received some touching and amazing entries.

"Choosing one winner is always so difficult, but we all felt that Sandra certainly is a true Asda wonder mum," he said.

Ben Payne