A YOUNGSTER who has suffered from a skin disease all her life is bravely helping medical experts try to find a treatment to help other children.

Nine-year-old Charlotte King, from Clacton, has had severe eczema since she was a baby and spent much of her life in hospital.

Experts have tried everything to try treat the painful skin condition but nothing has worked.

Now Charlotte is taking part in trials of a new drug which could offer children like her a glimmer of hope for a new life.

Mum Lauren said: “Charlotte started getting it when she was three months old and it just got worse and worse all the time.

“We’ve tried everything. She is always on antibiotics and steroids and has to have cream every four hours and bath twice a day - it’s hardcore.

“She gets it everywhere, on h her head, hands, face, feet and back. It’s really hard for her but Charlotte copes very well.

“Because she has lived with it for so long she has just got used to it - it’s part of her life.

“It does hold her back sometimes. She can’t join in some things because it affects her hands and sometimes she can’t even feed herself because her hands are really bad.

“Sometimes she cries when she gets in the bath. The water stings her because her skin is so dry.

“And she blisters in the sun. It’s a nightmare, but she deals with it in her own little way.”

Charlotte is a pupil at St Clare’s Primary in Clacton. She has two older brothers, Curtis, 18 and Samuel, 20, and younger sister Tamsin, aged seven.

“Her school is amazing,” said Lauren, of Azalea Way.

“They are really good with her. She finds it hard to hold a pen and struggles with her handwriting but they are very patient with her.”

Charlotte is also helping doctors find a treatment to help other children with the same condition She has been travelling to St Thomas Hospital in London every two weeks to take part in drug trials.

“Charlotte has to have three injections each time - one in each arm and one in her leg,” said Lauren.

“She hates needles and is petrified of them but she had to do it for seven months.

“We won’t even know is she was getting the drug or a placebo for another 18 months, but she’s come off it now and her skin is still really bad.”

Charlotte is now old enough to start taking a drug called azathioprine which could help her.

Her mum said: “There are a lot of negatives which come with it - it suppresses your immune system so she has to have blood tests. She has to take it for the next two years and it takes three months to start working.

“But hopefully we will notice a change and at the end of two years her immune system will come back up and her eczema will be gone.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed because it would be a nice way to go up to high school.”

Clacton and Frinton Gazette:

CHARLOTTE’S brave battle against eczema has won her a child of courage award from radio station Dream 100.

She received her Local Hero award from breakfast presenter Dom Atkins and actress Carli Norris, who plays Belinda Peacock in EastEnders and was Fran Reynolds in Holby City.

Charlotte designed her own dress for the awards ceremony which took place at Play Golf in Colchester.