A CARE worker with Tourette’s syndrome raised almost £3,000 to help others with the condition by holding a red carpet event.

Katy Anns, from Stonehouse, plans to give money to Tourette’s Action, a charity which works to improve the lives of people with the condition, which affects the brain and nervous system.

She organised a dinner, disco and raffle at The Orchard Marquee at The Whitminster Inn on Saturday, September 17.

Almost 200 people attended the evening, which included a speech by Katy’s boss Joanna Savory of Horsfall House residential care home in Minchinhampton.

She talked about what an amazing asset Katy is to the home.

“The job that she does is very very stressful and it takes a certain type of person to connect with our residents as Katy does because they can be very demanding,” she said.

“We are very proud of her and this is an amazing thing that she’s doing.”

Because of the success of the fundraiser, Katy, 22, is now planning further events.

Through the experience she has also met parents of people with Tourette’s which she has found cathartic.

“Hosting the event meant so much to me was very overwhelming but an amazing experience,” she said. “To have my family and friends there was just fantastic.

“Loads of people who I didn’t know came, friends of friends, which was so lovely of them.”

Tourette’s is characterised by a combination of involuntary noises and tics.

Katy’s tics manifest themselves in her neck which jerks at odd intervals.

She recently had four injections of Botox, two in her neck and another two in her shoulders, to ease the pain that the repetitive movement causes.

“I’ve had a lot of tics throughout my 14 years of with living with Tourettes,” said Katy.

“These include facial tics, blinking, jerking the head, teeth grinding, twitching the nose, neck twitches and throwing my neck back which makes my neck painful and gives me headaches.

“The thing is people think that Tourettes is shouting and swearing, they don’t realise that the majority of it is tics.”

And as a child, Katy would hide her tics with a flick of her hair or by pretending she had a cold.

It was only earlier this year that Katy fully accepted the condition.

Tourette’s syndrome is more common than most people realise, affecting around one in every 100 people.