Jack Ayles had suffered all his life with severe eczema, needing bandages from the neck down to protect his skin.
But now the 10-year-old is free from the symptoms of his debilitating condition for the first time.
Jack’s mother, Stacey, 31, first noticed the eczema when he was three months old.
“It appeared almost overnight,” says Stacey, a dairy farmer who lives in Etchingham, East Sussex, with her son, her husband who is also called Jack, and their daughters Heidi, 12, and Theia, six.
“His skin went from baby soft to dry and rough. His dad and grandad suffered from eczema, so it runs in the family but Jack’s condition was far worse. He had it from head to toe and was constantly scratching himself.
“He’s very easy going and cheerful, but the eczema made him unhappy.
“Our GP’s first thought was that it was diet-related, but taking him off dairy milk and substituting goat and soya milk didn’t help.”
When Jack’s eczema was at its worst, people would stare and comment, says Stacey.
“I went to a supermarket when he was tiny. He sat in the child’s seat on the trolley, crying because he was having an awful day with his skin.
“He slipped his mittens off and scratched his forehead, smearing blood all over his little face.
"A woman saw us and said, ‘How can you bring your baby out looking like that?’ I was distraught.”
Jack was prescribed hydrocortisone cream to little effect and was eventually referred to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.
“The team at GOSH were amazing,” says Stacey of Jack’s 10-day stay.
“But the treatment was impractical. He had to be bathed three times daily in steroid wash before a strong steroid cream was left on his skin for 30 minutes, then a thick emollient added and his whole body wrapped in bandages. It took three hours and he looked like an Egyptian mummy.”
The steroids thinned Jack’s skin and the regime brought little improvement, so Stacey eventually stopped it.
Having exhausted the NHS ’ offerings, she began scouring the internet, shipping products from around the globe to no avail.
But, amazingly, when it came, the solution was practically on the family’s doorstep.
“Jack’s dad is chairman of Crawley Wasps FC and his sister Heidi plays for the youth team. Last June we were putting food out for an event and Julia Vearncombe, co-founder of Skin:Genius, one of the team’s sponsors, was there.
“She noticed it was a bad eczema day for Jack and told us her company was launching a new product called Cream Come True.
“She sent over a tub to try and within 20 minutes Jack’s ankles, which had been red raw, felt less dry and the redness was reduced.
“After that we started using it across his whole body, up to four times a day. The cream just sinks in, which is such a relief after all the sticky, greasy products we’ve tried and he can get dressed straight away.
“Over a couple of weeks his skin lost its brittle feel, becoming soft and supple and the eczema cleared.
“The way it soothes and heals Jack’s skin is simply brilliant.”
Occasionally, when the weather and humidity changes, Jack still experiences a flare-up, but the cream has helped each time.
“His eczema may always be a part of him but now if it comes back we know how to deal with it – before, we had nothing that seemed to help. It’s been amazing.”
