A 19-year-old who suffers from severe disabilities is refusing to be beaten by his condition.

Owen West, from Staplehurst, is a keen sportsman, despite suffering from a spinal condition that has placed him in a wheelchair.

He already plays for a wheelchair basketball team in Folkestone - the Folkestone Arrows - and for a wheelchair rugby team in Canterbury - the Canterbury Hellfires.

Now he has undertaken one of his bigger challenges. He is captaining a team of 60 participants from across the country taking part in the Super Heroes virtual summer challenge.

All of those involved have a disability of some sort. Their challenge is to collectively travel the equivalent of the circumference of the world - more than 46,000km - in the best way they can, be that in a wheelchair or with a walking frame.

They have until August 20 to complete the task, and each participant is logging daily the distance they have personally accomplished.

Owen is leading the Captain America team, one of four taking part, and he has chosen as his superhero sidekick, his pet cat, Oriel, who is travelling the distance with him sitting on his lap.

His mum, Shelley West, said: "Owen is out on the streets doing his distance every day. He is very visible as he is wearing his Captain America costume and has red, white and blue flashing lights on his wheelchair."

Owen has a fall-back plan for the days when it is either too hot or - perhaps one day - too wet to go outside.

Mrs West said: "He has worked out that 136 laps of our living room is equivalent to 1km!"

Owen was just 15 when doctors discovered that he was suffering from not one but three rare genetic disorders: he has type 3 Loeys-Dietz syndrome, KBG Syndrome and CDK13.

At the time, he was one of only 12 people in the world diagnosed with CDK13, though that figure has now risen to 229. KBG Syndrome is even rarer, with fewer than 150 cases in the world. Loeys-Dietz Syndrome is more common, but still rare. There are around 334 cases in the UK, that's fewer than one in every 201,000 people.

As a consequence he is unable to walk, has learning difficulties, is losing his eye-sight and is often in pain.

But Mrs West said: "He never complains and never lets himself be beaten."

He has just completed his schooling at the Nexus special school in Tonbridge and has secured a place on a supported learning course at Canterbury College, where he will stay until he is 25.

He is competing in the Superheroes challenge to raise finds for two charities - Whizz-Kidz and Freedom for Wheels - both of which have supported him through his difficulties.

Freedom for Wheels gave Owen a life-changing wheelchair and funded his physiotherapy through lockdown.

Whizz Kidz gave Owen a set of all-terrain wheels and a free wheel attachment that turns his day chair into an all-terrain chair. They have also provided work experience and work skills courses both online and in person.

Mrs West said "Owen likes to help others. He recently took part in a speech therapy project with the Melbourne Institute in Australia that is going to be used to help those with language difficulties."

So far, Owen has travelled 45km and his team collectively have managed 31,513km.

It was his social worker who suggested he takes part and Owen uses Twitter and Instagram to send encouraging messages to his team-mates every day.

Owen said: "I just want to help people like me. To do what I can."

Owen said: "People are kind. Yesterday I was out in Staplehurst and a man ran up to me and emptied his pockets of all his cash to give to the cause, saying I was doing a great job. It made me feel very happy!"

If you would like to help Owen in his fundraising, he has two GoFundMe pages, one for Whizz-Kidz here, and one for Freedom for Wheels here.

And Owen has one more challenge in his diary.

On August 20, he will be travelling to Dorney Lake in Windsor to take part in a Superheroes Triathlon where he will be partnered by the Paralympian Gold Medal winner Anne Usher.