The daily reality of a child with severe eczema - scratching, cream, bandages and tears
Mum is raising funds to help 4-year-old Wilf who can't get a good night’s sleep or even play with his toys properly
Wilf Ford has suffered from severe atopic eczema since he was 5 months old, The little boy – who is now four – is always fully bandaged and has cream applied hourly to relieve the itching and pain.
In a desperate search to raise money to find a cure, his mum Sarah Scott has shared a Facebook video showing the harsh daily reality of Wilf's severe eczema. She's set up a gofundme page Wilf’s Campaign to raise awareness and funds so she can take him to a hydrotherapy clinic in France. Sadly, Wilf's eczema is getting worse, and Sarah is hoping to raise £6,000 for Wilf to have a unique skin treatment at the clinic. She's aware this may or may not work - but she's giving everything a try to help her son.
“As a mum with a child with severe eczema my night consists of hourly wake ups, changing bandages and creams at least once in the night. Changing bedding and washing all bedding including duvet,” she explained to the supporters of Wilf’s Campaign on Facebook.
“The itching drives Wilf nuts and he will take his onsie off even if I put it on him back to front to try and stop him unfastening it. And will rip his nappy off which he should not be able to get to with his gloves and skinnies on. Which then means a wet bed. So he then also has to have a shower in the night and creamed and bandaged up again. Lots of vacuuming goes on in the morning, cleaning up skin and the inside of nappies scattered all over the floor and bed.”
She told The Mirror that she is ‘scared’ about what will happen when he starts primary school this year - he has just 'graduated' from nursery - and she knows that she will have to go to school with him so that she can reapply the bandages throughout the day.
"I'm worried it'll distract the other children and I'll have to take 20 minutes out of every hour to re-do his bandages and creams."
"People say he will grow out of it and yes he might, but right now I have to watch him go through this agony every single day."
"People have made nasty comments about the way Wilf's skin looks which isn't very nice because all he wants is just to be a normal kid doing normal things.”
"Hopefully we can get enough money together to get Wilf to France, cure him and let him live a normal life because it's a small price to pay.
"Any money that we have left over I want to give to other children so they can be cured too."
Comments on Wilf's Campaign Facebook page are very supportive and there are a lot of parents who relate to what Sarah and Wilf are going through: "Breaks my heart. Aidan would scream and get so angry when he was scratching," one supporter revealed. "Then trying to get him in the bath was even more emotional. I am so surprised that no one called the police on us. The way he screamed you would have thought we were killing him. Hang in there it will get better soon."
"I feel for the little fella. I had It pretty bad when I was young. I can remember my mum running the bath and getting the cream out. Fortunately for me I hit 16 and grew out of it. Hopefully he will too. Chin up mate, it gets better," said another.
And one woman confessed that it "brings back very dark days/years".
You can donate to Wilf's campaign here
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