People from across Nova Scotia, the country and around the world are donating thousands of dollars to help a four-year-old girl with spastic cerebral palsy who is in desperate need of a wheelchair.

Brad Given, a single father in Lower Sackville, N.S., appeared on CBC News on Wednesday night, asking the public to help his daughter, Payton, one of his triplets. He also has an older daughter.

Given's wife, Amy, died in January from a blood disorder and they didn't have life insurance.

Buying Payton a motorized wheelchair and retrofitting the family van so everybody can fit in the vehicle would cost $60,000.

As of Thursday at 2:30 p.m., nearly $21,000 had been pledged from nearly 300 donors from as far away as Australia.

An account in trust has also been set up at the Scotiabank in Lower Sackville.

"It's just too hard to carry Payton around," Given told CBC News.

"She needs to be able to get around herself. She can't just be crawling on the floor all the time."

Given originally told CBC News he asked Nova Scotia's Department of Community Services to provide Payton with a wheelchair. He clarified that on Thursday, saying he requested help from other service organizations, but was told his daughter was too young.

The family hopes to have the equipment in place for when Payton starts school next year.