About Us - The People Behind TalkEczema

DEBORAH MASON - MANAGING DIRECTOR

My name is Deborah Mason and this web site was created by me in October 2000. I live in Hampshire, UK, with my husband Mark and two daughters Sophie who is 11 and Alice who is 9 years old.

I am allergic to tree pollen and suffer with hay fever throughout late Spring/early Summer. My symptoms are restricted to very sore, runny sticky eyes. I can't wear make up when I am suffering with the symptoms I live permanently in dark glasses. Very fetching! I suffer with mild eczema, mainly contact induced, but my main inspiration for setting up the TalkEczema web site came from my daughter Alice. At 5 months old she developed severe atopic eczema following a short spell in hospital for suspected meningitis. Fortunately it was only a very bad viral infection, but the drip used to hydrate her contained an antibiotic which I believe was responsible for triggering her eczema. During this time, Alice developed several allergies including intolerance to milk, eggs and pink fish. She also displayed symptoms associated wtih asthma, and still suffers with allergic rhinitis today.

But it was her chronic eczema that made both Alice's life, and our family life, hard to handle.

At the time we couldn't see an end to the misery Alice was going through, and the intense pressure it put on me as her mother was overwhelming at times. All I wanted was my beautiful baby back. Although she is and always was beautiful in my eyes, her skin was sore, cracked and itchy which made her look different and made people stare. Thankfully she was too young to realise that this common skin condition made her look different from all the other babies her age.

Alice was clearly distressed a lot of the time. And so was I! I look back at the many sleepless nights I had laying by her side, holding her hands to prevent her from ripping her skin to shreds and wonder how we ever got through it. But we did because we had help and support from family and friends and advice and treatment from our health professionals. Plus my desire to learn as much as possible about eczema gave me the strength to cope.

When I started TalkEczema nearly 8 years ago I never imagined that so many people would visit the site and it would be the huge resource it is today. Nor did I ever imagine that TalkEczema would lead to a group of support and information web sites for other health conditions too. Over the last few years I have realised that there are many thousands of people out there, just like me, who need support and help. So I hope you find that help within these sites.

Best wishes
Deborah Mason

KAREN - WEB SITE MANAGER

My name is Karen and I am a mother of 2 boys who are both at Primary School. For several years I have suffered from hay fever and a mild allergy to cat and dog hairs. Neither of these allergies have caused me undue misery, however, I know friends and family who have more severe asthma, eczema and allergy conditions so am aware of the distress and frustrations these can cause both to the sufferer and family/friends surrounding them. Additionally a close relative died of Lewy Body dementia (a combination of Alzheimers and Parkinsons) and I know how important it is to be able to have people who can relate to the issues you are having to deal with.

Having a website you can visit to gain information, communicate with others experiencing the same issues or just somewhere to get ideas from allows you to feel you’re not ’alone’.

We look forward to welcoming you onto our Talk websites and I hope you will find them useful and helpful in supporting you.

SAMANTHA - WEB SITE MANAGER

My name is Samantha.  I live in Hampshire, UK with my husband and two daughters who are aged 11 and 8.  For the last four years I have been working as PA to a Consultant Surgeon.  Through my work I have become very interested in medical matters and enjoy being able to help people.

As a parent I have always been very interested in children’s health and what I can do to make sure my children stay as healthy as possible.  When my children were very small I was very conscious of what I fed them and tried to avoid peanuts and anything that may cause allergies.  There was so much conflicting advice available that it became very confusing to know what to do for the best. Although neither of my children suffer from any allergies at present I am very aware of the devastating effects it can have on a family if a person does suffer.  A close friend of mine has a gluten allergy and I can see what she has to go through on a daily basis and how hard it can be.

My interest in Asthma stems from a close friend of my husbands who died from a severe asthma attack.  His death was very sudden and extremely shocking.  I have several other friends who suffer from asthma to varying degrees and so I was keen to join the TalkAsthma team. I am also involved with the launch of a new Talk website, TalkAlzheimers which is very exciting for me as my mother has Alzheimer’s disease.  She was initially diagnosed approximately 3 years ago at the age of 74.  It is a very frightening disease both for her and for us, her family.

I hope that I will be able to help other people who are caring for a friend or relative with this dreadful disease.  To me it feels a little like stepping of a cliff into the great unknown.  I have no way of knowing how it will develop and what we are likely to face in the future.  Everybody’s experiences of Alzheimers are different.  If I can help or reassure one person through my own experiences then that will be a good thing.

I am also hoping to learn things from other people who are further on down the line than my mother and I are.  I am sure that I am not the only person who is trying to bring up a family and care for a dependent relative at the same time, whilst trying to maintain a balanced life of sorts.  I am looking forward to “meeting” you all on the Talk websites.