Two weeks ago, I got a phone call from the National Eczema Society (NES), who told me that Gaelle won the Young Person of the Year award 2010!! She was nominated in August by one of her friend's gran. I was really surprised and over the moon!

Since, the local papers have been quite good at telling Gaelle's story, a really positive one (she won for her great attitude to life, acting as role model, campaigning and educating her peers and teachers). See the media coverage below, including the NES's own quarterly magazine (I didn't expect to be on the front cover!) ; I hope this has contributed to raise awareness and speard the word about the Society too.

So on the 27th of November, Gaelle and I got invited to attend the AGM and the award ceremony in London (they paid for our expenses thank god)! That was a pretty special week-end...  I must admit that apart from spending some lovely one-to-one time with Gaelle in London, one encounter made my day: also attending the AGM were a 6 year old boy with eczema and his mum. He was wearing the same bandages as Gaelle on the day and after speaking to his mother, it became quite clear we are on similar care routines, school support etc. Gaelle and the boy got on really well and played hide and seek for 2 hours together while I was chatting with the mum and the Board.

It was the very first time we met a child with severe eczema (more so than Gaelle actually) and it was just brilliant for both of us, in a strange way! We are keeping in touch by emails. It is a shame we had to wait for 5 years for it to happen (and in London!)...

The award has has a big impact in Gaelle's life and I beleive her self-esteem has been boosted, which I am so please about (we were starting to notice a few worrying signs of lack of confidence lately).