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I have 3 fabulous grandsons aged 4, 4, and 2. They all have allergies with varying degrees of severity and impact on their lives. What is common  with them is that they do IMPACT on their lives and their family lives. Luckily for them and us , so far this impact has been upsetting and sometimes time consuming but never life threatening. 

My mother in law has bizarrely ( it seems to us and her!) developed a quite severe allergy to fruit in her late sixties after never having any allergies before! To the extent that she cannot even have a slice of lemon in her Gin and Tonic!!!

So originally, this was the reason I chose Allergy UK as my chosen charity for putting myself through the ridiculous torture of running the Great North Run!!!  Those of you reading this who know me well will realise  there is no hyperbole in the above sentence!!

Anyway, I mentioned I was running it at the volunteer group I go to at West Boldon Conservation Lodge  and John our esteemed leader(!) told me about a young boy who came to his forest school who had severe allergies. Long story short, I met the boy and his parents who were keen to promote awareness of the problems and danger of allergies and what it is like to live with them on a day to day basis.

Charlie is a delightful happy  4 yr old boy who unfortunately has allergies that can sometimes leave him feeling miserable, irritable and unhappy. They can also endanger his life and he has been admitted to hospital several times with breathing difficulties ! He has multiple food allergies including celery, nuts, kiwi, chick peas, sesame seeds, egg and prawns. He is allergic to dust ( he can NEVER visit my house!) and animal dander which is animal skin cells, sort of dandruff! He developed excema when he was 3 and his poor skin is nearly always red, inflamed ,itchy and sore. His daily skin regime consists of twice daily bathing, his skin creamed several times a day and bandaging at bed times. Poor Charlie hates bathtime because the water often stings his sore skin.

Charlie has a 7 year old sister Amber who loves her little brother very much but occasionally gets a little frustrated by the fact that often family time is interrupted one way or another by Charlies problems. As you can imagine Charlies parents are sometimes exhausted by coping with Charlies allergies and trying to have a normal family life .

PLEASE help by sponsoring me anything you can, I will certainly  be very grateful and chuffed and families with allergy sufferers will also know that another £1 raised could just be that £1 that helps with a breakthrough.............Thank you   :))