Tot suffering from a severe form of flesh-eating eczema looked like half his face had been BURNT OFF
A YOUNG boy was left screaming in pain after suffering from a severe form of flesh-eating eczema looked like half his face had been burnt off.
Owen Richards was just six weeks old when he began to suffer from eczema, with his condition quickly deteriorating and leaving the young boy covered in bloody, weeping sores.
The young boy's skin was so sore that his family could not hug him.
The little boy suffered "extreme fits" of screaming and scratching, with the pain so bad that he could not go to the toilet, get dressed or even lie in bed without crying from the pain.
Mum Cath Richards, 40 and dad Andrew Richards, 43, were left feeling helpless as their little boy struggled with the pain.
Cath, a physiotherapist, said that everyday became "torture", saying: "It started as just a bit of redness on Owen's cheek when he was six weeks old but it quickly spread to the back of his legs and his tummy.
"By the time he was four, he was meant to be starting school but he couldn't walk or stand without being in excruciating pain.
"Owen would have these extreme fits of screaming and scratching and everywhere he sat he would leave a deposit of dead skin and blood.
She said the family, which includes their eldest son Oliver, eight, tried all sorts of treatments to stop the skin condition worsening.
She said: "It was a living hell. Every day was like torture and he would plead with me for it to stop. I used to promise him it would even though we had tried all the treatments.
"It made me feel so guilty to lie but I didn't know what else to say. I used to cry a lot."
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The young boy, who is now seven-years-old, was left screaming into the night with Cath worried her neighbours would think the family, from Hale, Cumbria, was hurting the young boy.
But the situation became even more desperate when Owen suffered at attack of eczema herpeticum – a flesh-eating bacterial infection in January 2013.
The infection is so dangerous that it can cause blindness or even be fatal if it eats its way through to the brain.
The little boy was rushed to hospital, with the skin condition so bad that it looked like half of Owen's face had burnt off.
Cath said: "People would stare at his wounds where he'd torn his skin off scratching and I was worried that people who heard his screams in the night would think we were doing something awful.
"The way we were living, there was no happiness – it was hellish.
"There were some days when I was driving that I just felt like putting my foot down and driving off the road – but that love for your family stops you and you keep going.
"We always put on a brave face and acted cheerful around people because we didn't want Owen to ever think he was a problem.
"When Owen got eczema herpeticum it looked like chicken pox when we took him into hospital, but by the next morning the infection had eaten away at the flesh on his face.
"He looked like he had been burnt in a fire. It was horrifying.";
WHAT IS ECZEMA HERPETICUM?
• If eczema is infected with the herpes simplex virus (which normally causes cold sores) it can develop into a serious condition called eczema herpeticum
• If the under-recognised illness is not diagnosed promptly the child's condition may deteriorate rapidly and it can be fatal or lead to blindness
• Signs of eczema herpeticum are areas of rapidly worsening or painful eczema, clustered blisters consistent with early-stage cold sores, circular, depressed, ulcerated lesions or fever, lethargy or distress
The desperate mum said that she had never heard of the infection before but learned that it had the potential to blind or even kill its young victims.
Owen was put on intravenous antiviral drugs to combat the infection but worried about the impact strong medication would have on her son, Cath looked into herbal alternatives.
She took a year off work to look after her son and after extensive research made contact with Shulan Tang, a professor of Chinese medicine based in Manchester, to start Owen on herbal treatments in May 2014.
Within just four months of drinking a herbal mixture twice a day, Owen's improvement was so remarkable he was able to run and play and even started school.
The herbal mixture, created and regularly changed according to Owen's needs, included herbs such as bloodwort root, white mulberry leaf, Chinese anemone root and Imperata grass.
The concoction was designed to release the heat from Owen's body, soothe his itching, fight toxins, promote skin growth and clear his airways.
Cath said her little boy's miraculous turnaround has been life changing not just for her little boy but for the whole family.
She said she was so overwhelmed by the power of Chinese medicine she is now doing courses with the Shulan medical centre on herbal remedies and acupuncture to help her own patients.
She said: "Owen's transformation has been absolutely unbelievable. He has so much more energy and his happiness is palpable.
"Every morning he wakes up singing and shouting silly things and laughing.
"He never used to be like that, he was just so consumed by his eczema – we all were.
"But now we're free. It's had a massive positive effect on all of us. I'm so proud of him."
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