Cornwall dad's heartfelt plea to not leave out his three-year-old with severe eczema
Jenson has dealt with complications around the condition since he was born
The dad of a three-year-old boy with severe eczema is asking people in Cornwall to understand the condition and not leave his son out due to his appearance.
Thomas Galea from Penzance is the father of Jenson, who was born with the condition, and told us there is lots more to be done to change attitudes.
Thomas told us: "There's a lot of stigma around eczema being contagious, he's experienced people saying they cannot play with his kids or when they look at him they look in disgust, which is really heartbreaking.
"When we're walking around the street he has to wear his bandages 24/7 and he can get hot in his clothes as well. They look at how he bleeds and say it's disgusting or if it's scabby it's horrid. People say they wouldn't want my son around their children.
"People think eczema is like the plague, but it's not. He's had problems going into certain play areas where they've not allowed him to go in because of his bandages so it is very upsetting".
Eczema is a condition where patches of skin become itchy, dry, cracked and sore, often as a result of allergies, sometimes leaving families having to change habits around the house to cater to their needs.
Thomas' family have changed all carpets to laminate flooring, used special paint to minimise his allergies and focused on cutting some food from his diet to avoid flare ups. Despite more attention on prevention, Jenson has continued to face other complications as he's grown up which have worsened his experience.
Thomas added: "Since birth he's had severe eczema which later on in life, about a year and a half they found he has MRSA and only recently found he had Strep A which is a bacteria on the skin infection which makes his eczema twice as bad as it usually is.
"There is a cure for MRSA and Strep A with antibiotics but for eczema there's no cure.
"Jenson's very tired all the time because at night time he flares the most, that's when his eczema is the worst, so he isn't a very sociable child at the moment just because he's so tired. Even when he sleeps he's constantly itching".
He told us finding treatment remained tricky during the pandemic: "Obviously there's NHS shortages but we've travelled privately to get him seen just because we're that desperate. There isn't a cure but there is treatment out there and we're just trying to find the best treatment that'll work for him but sadly there's been no treatment at the moment.
"With Covid as well it's been hard, it's changed quite a lot treatment wise and having to get on public transport or the train, it's very limited.
"Sadly it's the way Jenson's had to deal with it. We need to make people aware that eczema is out there, it's not contagious and there's a lot of treatment behind it that is needed".
To find out how you can help the condition and how it impacts young people, you can read more on the National Eczema Society website.