THE MUM of a man with cerebral palsy says the community of Atherton has "restored her faith in people" after rallying behind him after his phone was taken.

Karl Taylor is 26 and has cerebral palsy and has spent a lot of time in Atherton with his grandparents, so is well known in the area.

So last week when his mum Susan posted on Facebook that her son was "utterly heartbroken" after he lost his phone and someone had picked it up and not returned it, the community decided they wanted to help.

The Bolton News:

Mum-of-two Susan says she was "just amazed" when her post was shared more than 300 times with offers from people she did not know to buy Karl a phone.

The 46-year-old said: "Karl is very trusting, and thinks everybody is lovely, that's why he was so confused that his phone was not returned and he was just devastated.

"I thought with him being well known in the area I'd put it online and see if that would affect someone's conscience and I was just amazed after my post got shared around 300 times.

"I got so many messages from people saying they'd raise money for him to get a new phone because they know how much it means to him and even offers from people to buy a new phone, like the owner of Ena Mill who knows Karl quite well from our visits.

"It was just amazing. People did whatever they could to cheer him up, the ice cream man even came directly to our door on Saturday and made his day by giving him free fudge cake and ice cream."

Susan ordered a new phone for Karl who was "absolutely made up" with all the messages of support from people.

The Bolton News:

Susan, from Abram, added: The Atherton community have restored my faith in people by how kind they have been to Karl and how much they were willing to do to help.

"I didn't post it for that, but what we got back in the end turned a negative into a positive and it's made Karl feel even more like a local celebrity.

"Thank you all so much for being so kind."