A TEAM of 22 runners tackled a city challenge to help an 11-year-old boy in Kingsley.

The group ran the Manchester 10k to raise money for life-changing autism treatment for Jack Armstrong.

Jack regressed when he was three-and-a-half years old, losing basic social skills like eye contact with others and verbal communication.

His family discovered the American Son-Rise treatment and eduction programme and the youngster has come on in leaps and bounds since he started following it about six years ago.

His mum Natalie, who also ran the 10k, said: "From being completely in his own world and non-verbal Jack's progression has surprised and excited everyone around him.

"He has the most cheekiest and funniest sense of humour.

"He loves being around his brother and is frequently spending more time with amazing team of volunteers."

She added: "When Jack was diagnosed they said there was nothing that could be done – my little boy could get to maybe moderate autism – but hey, with love and hope and belief look who's coming back."

Jack can now talk in sentences, tries to connect with family and friends and his attention span is now almost typical for a child his age without autism.

An important part of the programme is family and volunteers, who become like members of the family, working closely with him for more than 45 hours a week.

Natalie said: "I couldn't have done it without a lot of strangers' time and love but now it's so worth it.

"Can you imagine your child losing everything – attention span, speech interaction and eye contact – to now him trying to talk to you and hugging me again and saying peoples names?"

The run was to fund a teacher coming from America to Kingsley to work with Jack and the team.

Natalie said: "When I went through the finish line I was stopped by a man who asked what we were running for and showed him my top ‘mummy running for Jack’, which was really good.

"It's such an amazing feeling seeing the whole team in their tops and wanting to help."

The family is also looking for two volunteers to spare two hours twice a week to work with Jack.

For more information visit joiningjacksteam.co.uk