A mother is hosting an extra Christmas for her son, who was diagnosed with an incurable genetic muscle-wasting condition.

Katrina Ruthven's eight-year-old son Alexis has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and is only expected to live until his late twenties.

She made a post on the online discussion forum Mumsnet asking for people to send her son summer Christmas cards, and received more than 180 messages and over 300 shares of her Facebook page.

The family now plans to host an Australian-style Christmas in the sun complete with a Christmas tree and a barbecue.

Ms Ruthen, 30, from Southwold in Suffolk, said Alexis is "very excited" to have another Christmas with his three younger sisters and asked for "as many cards as possible".

Alexis was diagnosed with Duchenne when he was six months old, and Ms Ruthen now runs a Facebook support group for families affected by the condition.

"Alexis has a wheelchair that he uses for longer distances," she said. "He takes steroids 10 days on and 10 days off but that's all there is by way of treatment at the moment.

"We have had a downstairs bedroom built because he is struggling with the stairs and he will lose the ability to walk within the next four years probably."

Ms Ruthven educates Alexis at home and says one of the ways she copes with his prognosis is to "keep busy" and try to raise awareness of Duchenne.

The condition is caused by the lack of a protein called dystrophin. Muscle fibres break down and are replaced by fibrous and/or fatty tissue.

Duchenne usually only affects boys, and bout 100 males are born with the condition in the UK every year.