KATY Green never dreamed she would live any kind of normal life after suffering from a rare allergy to sunlight.

She didn't go to school until she was 11 and lived life in a darkened room, away from windows and doors. Exposure to sunlight left her skin burning.

Now she has amazed doctors not only by recovering from her allergy but also by being the first woman in her condition to give birth.

She met her partner Jamie Hook, from Kingsmead, on a night out in Chester and the couple are setting up home in Winnington.

Their daughter Lottie, was born in April, fit and healthy.

Katy said: "I was almost sure she would be ok because I was told all she had was a one-in-four chance of having the condition if Jamie had it as well.

"Other people were worried more than I was."

Katy, now 20, was born with the condition, called congenital erythropoietic protoporphyria but her mother didn't find out what was wrong until Katy was eight months old.

Before then, Katy was always scratching her skin and screaming.

Katy said: "My mum took me to the doctors who told her to keep me under the stairs and only open the door to give me food."

She wasn't able to stand anything brighter than a 40-watt bulb so she lived in a darkened room.

Katy said: "My mum had a lot of friends and I had four cousins, two of them were a year older and one was a year younger.

"I wasn't exactly lonely but I couldn't go out with them. They had to come and play with me."

Eventually a special mask was created for her and she was able to go to school - but at a price.

For her mask made her the focus of cruel taunts and Katy realised for the first time just how different she was.

She said: "It wasn't much fun.

"The first couple of days were fine but then it became more obvious that I was different.

"I was called vampire, Dalek, Darth Vader and Power Ranger.

"Once children got used to me, I was fine but as each school year started, 100 new children came into school who had to face something they had never come across before.

"I was in Year 11 and I was scared of children in Year Seven."

Even though she went to school, it was at a price and the exposure to sunlight burned her hands, which are now permanently scarred.

But in the summer after she left school, Katy realised her hands were not burning so much.

She still remained covered and started taking her mask off for around 10 minutes a day.

The doctors were baffled as she slowly recovered. It then dawned on her that she might be able to do things she had never dreamed of and she tried to do everything all at once.

Katy said: "It was too much. I had to slow down and think what I wanted to do first.

"It was hard doing normal things, like just walking down to the shops locally or walking to my friend, who lived three doors away.

She added: "I never thought I had a future.

"I thought I would always stay at home with mum, watching television and reading books. I didn't see anything else.

"When doctors test the chemical that causes the condition, they say it should be worse than ever. It's better than ever and I'm not complaining.

"I suppose you could say I'm a bit of a walking miracle."

vkandel@guardiangrp.co.uk