A FORMER acrobat whose rare disease leaves her unable to move other than to blink is seeking help from Chinese scientists.

Despite careers as a trapeze artist and yoga teacher, Maxine Craik, of Beach Road, Mersea, lays paralysed by Spinocerebellar Ataxia.

Her friends and carers are trying to raise £60,000 to send her to China where Nobel Prize winning doctors offer controversial stem-cell therapy, not available in the UK.

She has an incurable brain disease which causes the body to shut down, but leaves the mind unaffected.

Over the past year, Miss Craik, 49, has lost the ability to talk, walk, swallow and her eye sight is failing.

The mum-of-one communicates by blinking as helpers use an alphabet board to spell messages.

Jayne Richards, her personal carer for five years, said: “Maxine can hear and understand everything that is said to her, but her only response is to almost wink. Imagine the horror and frustration.

“We have decided to try to raise enough money to take her to China so that she can undergo this potentially life-changing treatment, but, is not going to be cheap.

“But it is a glimmer of hope.”

Miss Richards began researching stem-cell therapy four years ago to try and help her friend. She has agreed a treatment plan with the Shenzhen Beike Cell Engineering Research Institute near Hong Kong with the blessing of UK neurologists.

Beike is the only company in the world offering the treatment, but Miss Craik’s supporters still need to raise the funds.

Stem cell therapy is the controversial treatment which uses cells from the umbilical cord blood of newborn babies.

In 2007, ataxia sufferer Audrey Jones, from Manchester, flew to China to undergo the same procedure and later recovered well enough to climb stairs on her own.

Miss Craik’s paralysed state is in stark contrast to her former active lifestyle where she was an acrobat, yoga instructor and TV extra on EastEnders.

She travelled the world performing at circus shows, starred in TV commercials and studied yoga in Sri Lanka and Bali before settling down in Mersea 16 years ago.

She has a 16-year-old daughter who lives with her grandparents on the island.

Miss Richards and nine assistants work in shifts to provide around-the-clock care.

She said: “Maxine’s courage is extraordinary. She is the nicest person I have ever met. Despite an ever-diminishing quality of life she continues to try to smile.”

Doctors can’t explain the cause of her condition which began affecting Miss Craik’s bodily functions ten years ago, getting progressively worse.

As well as seeking cash donations, her supporters will hold fundraising events on Mersea.

Organisers are looking for performers, fundraisers and corporate sponsors. To donate, visit gofundme.com/m39p5g For information about sponsorship email jayneee1@msn.

com or call 0788 6193337.