THE story of a 13-year-old girl who suffers from a life-threatening skin condition is due to be told to the nation.

Alice Tyson, of Moorhouse, near Carlisle, will be featured as part of a powerful CBBC documentary My Life: Into The Sun. It airs today at 5.30pm.

It aims to raise awareness of the extreme and often overlooked skin condition Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), which Alice was diagnosed with when she was just three.

Those living with the condition - only 120 people in the UK - need to protect themselves from UV rays as any exposure to sunlight can significantly increase their chances of getting skin cancer.

The programme, by MCC Media, follows Alice and Thapelo Mothibe, from South Africa, to Norway where an XP charity is conducting experiments.

Alice was keen to take part and tell more people about XP. She said: “I was really up for it because I wanted to raise awareness for the condition so people would know why we wear the visors.

“I was just drawn to it. It means people around the UK will know more about it and they can find out more information.”

She said it was interesting to find out about how Thapelo copes in a country with a high climate.

Living with XP can be very difficult. When half term holidays come and others are out playing, Alice, a pupil at Caldew School, becomes housebound.

Since her diagnosis she has had operations to remove small cancerous areas that have developed. She must wear gloves and a special hat while outdoors, apply skin creams every two hours and attend hospital appointments every few months.

Her mum Tracey, 53, added: “Nobody knows anything about it. We always think it’s a good thing just so people know who she is when she is out wearing her stuff.

“A lot of people stare and make comments. The more awareness they can get the better is is for any of them with XP.

“It’s just the challenges they face, even though it doesn’t look like there is anything wrong with them.

“A lot of people probably don’t realise the difficulties living with it. This shows, the good, the bad and everything all rolled into one.”

Producer Paul McCoy said it was a “privilege” to meet the girls and tell their story. “The girls’ approach to life was beyond inspiring and our team worked extremely hard to capture the essence of their struggles and give the viewer a real insight on what life is like living with such a limiting condition,” he said.

CBBC is Freeeview channel 201.