Mekhi, like 1 in every 600,000, was born as a Collodion baby, which is a thick layer of tight waxyskin that encased his little body. His condition resulted in him having to spend his first weeks of his life in a humid incubator to keep his skin from drying out, as it was so tight that it would split and bleed. After a period of about 8 weeks, this layer came off to reveal that he has Lamellar Ichthyosis, a rare genetic skin disorder for which there is currently no cure.

Daily routines to keep Mekhi looking his best and to keep him healthy include creaming him every 2 hours, soaking him in the bath twice a day so the thick dead skin that forms can be exfoliated. Failure to do this could result in his skin drying out causing excruciating pain, possibly breaking tiny bones and allowing infections in. The more severe types of Ichthyosis, namely Harlequin Ichthyosis is life threatening.

As his condition is so rare, the government does not provide any research funding, so it is our job to raise awareness and generate some much needed money. Between now and summer 2011, friends and family of Mekhi will be putting on a number of events and projects to raise money for:

The Ichthyosis Support Group: a charity who do a fantastic job creating awareness, providing support to parents and sufferers and who also fund research into therapies for the disorder.

Professor David Kelsell, from Barts and the London charity, who is one of the world's leading experts in Ichthyosis and is currently seeking a cure.

Why are we telling you all this? Yep, you guessed it; we're looking for sponsorship and 'jumpers'!  A number of us have agreed to do a skydive to raise money in the name of Mekhi but the more that volunteer, the more money we make; so if you want to help a worth cause, while taking part in a once in a lifetime experience, then get in touch!

In order to ‘jump’ for free, we each need to raise a minimum of £395; that may not sound like too big a number but with Christmas just round the corner; we're not taking anything for granted!! Plus, we want to raise much more than that – we are jumping out of a plane, after all!! J

Any donation that you can make would be hugely appreciated and take us a step closer to reaching our overall target of £5,000!

Thank you in advance for your support!

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