BETHANY Shuttleworth is heading for the sun - in search of a muddy miracle cure.

Since she was born, four years ago next week, the dark-haired charmer has suffered from acute eczema.

She is unceasingly sheathed in layers of bandage, daubed in an incredible assortment of ointments and creams.

"It has been a nightmare," said distressed mum Angela. "I have tried everything from accepted medications through every wild and improbable remedy imaginable.

"But simply nothing has worked."

Now Angela has learned of a remote treatment to be found deep in the hills in hot mud springs above the holiday town of Marbella on the Costa Del Sol.

And in August, accompanied by five-year-old daughter Tamsyn and sister Kay, the anxious mother will take Bethany for what she hopes will be "the answer to our prayers."

Angela, who recently moved across town into a neat terraced in Bedford, said: "Within two or three months of her birth Bethany had what the doctors claimed was a mild form of eczema.

"But the rashes never disappeared. They kept spreading, getting worse, and by her first birthday she was complete covered.

"I listened to everyone and tried absolutely everything in an endeavour to find a cure, including many herbal remedies, sulphur packs and soaps and soya milk baths.

"Poor Bethany has taken it all in her stride. But it's so uncomfortable for her. Every evening it takes an hour and a half to prepare her for bed.

"After a special bath I have to treat her with creams and ointments, then she has to be wrapped in bandages. I use 30 rolls every week.

"The nights are so bad. I feel so helpless. Bethany cries so much with the torment of itching and bleeding beneath the bandages."

Renewed hope came when Angela read in a woman's magazine of a two-year-old youngster, David Winterbottom from Warrington, who also suffered from eczema.

By a twist of fate, his parents were in Marbella on holiday last year when they heard of the strange mud springs.

"They went there, immersed David (bandages and all) in the mud," added Angela.

"Then they took him back to their villa and left him for 12 hours before removing the dressings. They could see there was an immediate effect and David is now well on his way to being cured."

Angela's family have weighed in with funds for her trip.

And Bethany is now excited about her twin August adventures: "I'm going on holiday and I'm starting real school," she said.

When the little girl begins a new life at Leigh Central Primary, Angela hopes the nightmare will be over.

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