Lincolnshire campaigner is urging people to take allergies "seriously"
Many people are suffering due to hot weather and the very high pollen count.
A campaigner from Lincolnshire is raising awareness on the seriousness of allergies.
In the UK, an estimated 44% of adults and 50% of children have at least one allergy.
Catherine Hobson is from Caistor in West Lindsey and has been living with life-threatening food allergies, asthma and hay-fever her whole life.
She has devoted herself to a career in offering advice and support to help people navigate safely through life with their own allergies.
“Being diagnosed with your allergy does matter, so if you've had some sort of allergic reaction that's come out of the blue, it's really helpful to you to find out more about it because diagnosis can in turn lead to support," said Catherine
"Knowledge is what keeps us all safe.”
Catherine also wants people to be aware that allergies of all different severities are important and should be identified.
“Allergies can be mild, it can be a skin irritation, it can be a rash.
"But it can also be right at the other end of the spectrum with anaphylaxis, which is what lots of people have heard of because that's what leads to death.
"So anywhere in between those two things on the spectrum, it's important for us to know about - you can live a full life with allergies.”
"There is new research being conducted by medical experts to help prevent children from obtaining certain allergies.
"By working with certain patients under medical supervision, children can be exposed to small doses of the food they are allergic to in order to help their body learn to accept it.
“The science behind it allows the body to accept that particular piece of food and instead of rejecting it and going into this very big and dangerous reaction, it starts to accept it.
"The child will then, for the rest of their lives, actually need to eat a tiny bit of that particular food every single day.”
Catherine wants people’s key takeaway from this week to be that “they’re not alone”.
“There are lots of people out there, including myself, who have allergies and can live safely and live full lives with allergies.
"So please, go to the websites and educate yourself so that you can stay safe.”