I was eight when I was first diagnosed with psoriasis and I was 12 when I developed psoriatic arthritis.
I don’t think of myself as an invalid because of my severe psoriasis arthritis. I try to live life as normally as possible – with a little help from my friends and family. I try to focus on the positive things in life – things I can do with a chronic illness.
As psoriasis is a life-long condition it’s important that people try to undergo treatment and seek the best quality of life imaginable. I’ve been given all sorts of treatment; there have been some that were good and some that were not so good for me, but it’s important for people to just work out what kind of treatment suits their precise needs.
The most important thing for me to tell people through this programme is that there really are a lot of people suffering from psoriasis, so it’s important to get better information out there. People need to realise that psoriasis is not contagious and psoriasis is something you can certainly learn to live with.
I want others to know that having psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis is not the end of the world. I want to make sure that psoriasis patients get the right information, and I feel that I can help by telling my story.
