Smiling widely, Elyse Hood battles to hide the pain of the crippling illness which has left her allergic to life.

The brave youngster spent her early years swaddled in bandages to protect her from the everyday items which left her scarred.

Diagnosed with a severe and incurabe form of atopic eczema, fruit, eggs, milk and chocolate bring her out in horrific rashes, while household dust, animal hair and most washing powders are potentially life threatening.

But the eight-year-old refuses to be beaten and is living her life to the full by fulfilling her ambition to perform on stage.

Elyse, from Campion Gardens, Windy Nook, Gateshead, is a member of a local amateur dramatics group and, earlier this year, she appeared at Newcastle's Theatre Royal in a production of The King and I, as one of the king's children.

Her mother, Theresa, a 48-year-old housewife, is delighted with her courageous attitude. She said: "Elyse still has to be bathed twice a day and covered in special creams every few hours to ease the pain, but she just gets on with it."

Her family and friends began a fundraising campaign to collect £5,000 to pay for Elyse, who attends St Oswald's Primary School, in Wrekenton, to get specialist treatment at a clinic in Yorkshire.

More than £10,000 was raised to send her to the Airedale Allergy Clinic, where she underwent weeks of agonising tests to help her lead a more normal life.

Six years on, Mrs Hoood and her husband, Harry, a 46-year-old upholsterer, continue to take their daughter for regular checks at the Palmer Hospital, in Jarrow, South Tyneside.

"Sometimes you can see things get her down," said Mrs Hood. "But because she's such a fighter, she picks herself up and gets on with it.

"All her friends have been a big help. Elyse likes to run around outside and play with them, but she knows she can't do everything they can so she has to be careful."