A MOTHER who has lived with an embarrassing skin condition since she was 11 is taking part in a sponsored walk to raise funds for medical research into the disease.

Margaret Horner, 45, from Clifton Moor, in York, suffered from her first outbreak of psoriasis around the time she was taking her 11-plus examination at school.

She said the itchy red spots, which are brought on by stress, have had a massive impact on her life over the past 34 years.

“It’s a very embarrassing illness that has stopped me doing a number of things in the past,” she said.

“It was difficult at school. In the changing rooms everyone always looked at me and children can be cruel because they don’t really understand.

“I don’t enjoy going to public baths because people always stare at me and I know they are thinking ‘what have you got?’ “I think people think they can catch it, but it’s not infectious at all.”

Margaret said she uses creams to control the condition and also underwent light treatment when the spots flared up really badly.

Tomorrow, Margaret and her sister Kim Cummings are taking part in the four-mile Walk For Skin at Temple Newsam, near Leeds, in aid of the British Skin Foundation.

The charity is raising funds for research to find new treatments and cures for numerous skin diseases, including psoriasis.

Margaret, a ward clerk at York Hospital, was due to take part in the walk with her husband, Richard – but she said he had opted instead to watch York City compete in the Blue Square Premier play-off final at Wembley.

She said: “I have a daughter who is 16 now and hopefully in her lifetime there will be a scientific breakthrough for a number of skin diseases.

“As psoriasis is hereditary, I’m praying she won’t have to suffer as I have for most of my life.”