A Barrow school community has rallied together to raise money to buy lifesaving equipment as one of its pupils has a rare heart condition.

Eight-year-old Casey Duff has CPVT (catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia), a life-threatening disorder of the heart's electrical system, which means the heart may stop in response to sudden excitement or stress.

The Cambridge Primary School pupil has fainted and had seizures at home and at school as a result of the serious condition. The youngster is now under the care of Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool, and medication has stopped the seizures.

The Barrow school has been fundraising to get a defibrillator, costing around £1,200, on site for the school and its community.

A successful enterprise day and sports day collection raised more than £500. The charity SADS (sudden arrhythmic death syndrome) has agreed to put £700 towards the device for school. The school had been planning to raise the rest in the autumn so everyone is delighted that the defibrillator can now be ordered.

Casey's mum Kerry Duff, who also wants to raise awareness about the condition, said: "It's amazing that the fundraising is completed before we even really got started. I'm overwhelmed.

"It is peace of mind and the defibrillator will be there for everyone.

"When you see Casey, there is nothing wrong on the outside.

"I had never heard of CPVT until Casey was diagnosed. It was thought that she might have had epilepsy.

"We are lucky that Alder Hey picked up on it. She wore a 24-hour heart monitor and they found an abnormality in her heart. There was an added three second pulse.

"Since having the medication, there have been no more seizures.

"Casey is a happy little girl."

Karen Griffiths, a nursery teacher at the school who has been involved in the fundraising, said: "It's absolutely brilliant that we will get this for Casey, and it is there for anyone else who needs it.

"We want to have a defibrillator in school because, if Casey's heart stops, we will have to do CPR until an ambulance gets here."