He grew up feeling like a social outcast. Born with acute eczema Tom Whayman had skin so sensitive that just a few hours in the Bermuda summer outdoors would see his skin bleed. “There were so many times that I wouldn’t walk because my skin was just so raw,’ he said. “I had it all over, especially the joints like behind my knees. But it was on my legs, the inside of my things, my arms and my stomach too,” he added.Eczema is a disease of the skin that looks like a severe rash with swelling and blisters. Those afflicted suffer terrible itching.

Mr. Whayman said he was an acute case and so the disease did not only impact him physically but also socially and emotionally. “Basically I missed most of my primary years because I was always sick,’ he said. “I was hospitalised a lot up until 12 or 13.”

He said he could not run around like other children.

“I had very few friends,” he said. “I’m not very social and didn’t want to be around people. My friends understood but it was hard for my parents and it was costly.

“My father was driving me to the hospital almost every night and then I would be in the oxygen tent.”

And memories of the oxygen tent still evoke pain in Mr. Whayman. Suffering for years not just with the eczema but also with acute asthma, he said he had been to many physicians. “I tried allergy treatment in North Carolina once but it didn’t work,’ he said. “They had different types of mould there so the treatment they gave me didn’t help me here.

“Doctors tried a lot of different things with me but as I continued to feel pressure and suffer stress it would come on.”

It wasn’t until he was in his thirties that Mr. Whayman’s allergies were properly diagnosed. He met nurse Jutta Harvey in the allergy clinic set up by Dr. Jonathan Murray. After a week of testing he was given a detailed list of the substances that triggered his asthma and eczema (his allergens) for the first time.

“Basically I’m allergic to everything. Dust, mould, pollen, different foods like soy and yeast, so many things I cannot remember them all,” he said.

After isolating his many allergens doctors then had to devise a cocktail of serums and a restricted diet to address his ailments.

“But they had problems because I had been on so many different medications at such strong doses that I had become immune to many of them,” he said. Working through these set backs, doctors managed to devise a treatment serum for Mr. Whayman and he has been taking it every week since. To date that makes six years. While many might think that’s too difficult, Mr. Whayman feels it’s freeing.

“My quality of life has improved dramatically; I never wore shorts until I began the treatment,” he said. “It’s been a 100 percent change for me. My medication is down to zero. I hardly have any chest infections, my breathing has improved 100 percent and my immune system is now strong enough to fight infection on its own.”

Not only has his medication reduced but Mr. Whayman said overseas travel is now easier for him. While high humidity is a breeding ground for most of the allergens that trigger asthma and/or eczema in him, he said since treatment he is better able to manage his health even in humid climates.

“I can deal with a lot better than before,” he said. “Before in the summer I couldn’t be out more than a few hours or else I would get itchy, scratch and bleed. But I spent a lot of time in the hot sun. I did it because I had to but I made myself very sick.”

Mr. Whayman’s friends have also noticed the dramatic change in his health and demeanour.

The positive change started about four months after he began taking the treatment serum.

“My skin was improving quickly,” he said, but years of scarring took long to heal and is only now beginning to clear.

Mr. Whayman goes to the allergy clinic once a week for his three shots. He expects to have to do that for the foreseeable future winding down perhaps to once a month in a few years.

A staunch advocate of the Allergy Clinic, Mr. Whayman said: “The staff at the allergy clinic made no promises and stressed everyone’s immune system reacts differently to the treatment. They have always been very supportive, including supporting my requests that my insurer cover the costs of the treatment.

“It has been a worthwhile endeavour for me,” he said. “I think anyone suffering with skin issues or asthma should see them.”