COUNTERING the false assumption that young people are immune to serious illnesses, a teenager from Innerleithen is highlighting how ailments can occur at any age and may not necessarily be visible to the naked eye.

Jordan Daly, 17, has a genetic condition - Hereditary Multiple Exestosis (HME) - which causes growths at the end of bones.

She has had to deal with ignorance and nasty jibes most of her life. But now working with Fixers – a national award winning charity that supports young people aged 16-25 to tackle any issue that matters to them, however they choose – Jordan has made a film that shows how her youth has been affected by her diagnosis and mobility issues.

HME can cause difficulties with walking, severe pain and limited joint movement, and nearly all those with the condition are diagnosed before the age of 12. Jordan said: “HME means that you tend to get bony spurs at the end of the joint and they can get caught in tendons, muscles and nerves. This causes a lot of pain and causes the joint to lock sometimes.

“I’ve had people say that I shouldn’t have been born, or to go home and die. I’ve even had people knock away my crutches. I can’t actually stand up on my own. So that was quite scary.

“I don’t want people in my situation to feel like they are too different and I want to make sure that they know they aren’t alone, said Jordan.” Aiming to make a change from the ground up, Jordan wants to educate the younger generation about HME in the hope that they will take that knowledge and apply it to adult life.

Jordan added: “If younger people can start to understand the conditions that they fear, they won’t fear it as much. They won’t resort to name calling or physical assaults because they’ll know what that person is going through and understand it a little bit better.” Visit www.fixers.org.uk for more information.