Little Charlie is only 19 months old and she's all girl. She loves her jewelry, her painted toes and her pigtails are on point.
Her first 19 months though have been challenging. Charlie was diagnosed with psoriasis when she was just a few weeks old. The news was surprising for her mother Ashley and her husband since the chronic skin disease doesn't run in their family.
Charlie's case is considered extreme.
"She wouldn't want to be held," said Ashley. "She wouldn't want to be touched, she wouldn't want the water to touch her, it was just hell, it was miserable."
Charlie had to spend three days at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Her case is one of the worst cases they've seen.
Life at the family's Queen Creek home is pretty normal, but Ashley says when they're in public she does get the double takes.
"They look at her and then they look away and they try not to really stare."
So Ashley says she makes it a point to have physical contact with Charlie, to show the disease isn't contagious. She's now on a mission to educate the public about psoriasis.
"I'm trying to take it as an opportunity to learn and to grow from rather than to feel sorry for myself because I don't think that," she said. "That's a right way to deal with anything."
Ashley says she is now planning a 5K run in the near future to help raise more awareness about the disease.
