A Mom has shared heartbreaking photos of her 19-month-old daughter who has psoriasis in the hopes of making people aware that the condition is not contagious.
Ashley Nagy, from Queen Creek in Arizona, has pleaded to strangers not to fear her daughter, Charlie’s condition, after revealing that parents drag their children away from Charlie in fear that her daughter’s condition is contagious.
“Strangers can be very cruel about it, when we’ve taken her to the playground, the parents of other children have dragged their kids away thinking she’s contagious,” she said. “
“Most people move away, afraid they are going to catch whatever she has or move their kids away so she can’t get too close or play with them.”
Ashley mentioned that whenever people stare and give cruel comments about her daughter, she and husband Andrew, 32, answer back by kissing and cuddling their daughter in public. “My response is normally to pick Charlie up and kiss her so that people can see she is not contagious and being near her isn’t going to hurt anyone,” Ashley said.
She also noted that they have been accused by strangers of letting their daughter get ‘severely sunburnt’. “A few people have made comments, some ladies said that I was a bad parent and couldn’t believe I let her get so sunburned. Others have said they can’t believe we have her out in public, but these are just very ignorant people so we ignore them,” Ashley added.
Charlie was just 2 months old when she had her first psoriasis flare-up. Doctors believe she is one of the youngest patients to have such a severe case.
It was when Charlie was 4 months old when she was diagnosed with psoriasis after small red dots appeared all over her skin and developed into large welts that would peel and flake off. “Psoriasis flare-ups happen sporadically, she’ll be completely free and then in a matter of hours, her skin will be covered from head to toe. “They start off as wide, raised, red spots that then look like little whiteheads, after that they dry up to flake, crack and peel from her body,” Ashley said.
Psoriasis affects over 125 million people worldwide and flare ups are often brought on by stress, illness and intolerance to food.
Ashley said that they alleviate the itchy and painful flare-ups which cover Charlie’s body with a specialist two-hour bathing routine, in addition to putting her on a gluten and dairy-free diet, with a daily cod liver oil and aloe smoothie, which help stop her from needing oral medication.
Despite all the mean comments from strangers, Ashley said she refuses to hide her daughter. “I don’t put her in turtlenecks or hide her, I have her in shorts and am not ashamed of who she is and walk with pride, I know she’s beautiful,” she said.
The Mom is even more proud of her daughter’s personality. “While she has psoriasis, it doesn’t define her because she has such a great personality – she’s bubbly, funny, very sweet and at times she’s freaking hilarious,” she said.
Due to the rarity of having such an extreme form of psoriasis at such a young age, Charlie’s parents nicknamed her their ‘unicorn baby’. “I decided to name her my ‘”unicorn baby” and referred to the skin problems as “unicorn spots” because she’s so rare and special,” Ashley said. “I chose to compare it to a unicorn as I thought it was something positive and less intimidating, as she gets older I’m sure it will help her see that her skin is beautiful.”