As their time at secondary school draws to an end, many sixth year pupils are turning their thoughts to their future careers.
That prospect may be daunting for some pupils – but not for Gemma Banister, as the Stonehaven teenager knows exactly what she wants to do and why.
Gemma is planning to study biology at university so she can help find a cure for the allergies which plague her and thousands of others.
North-east woman using her own allergy ordeal to help others
The sixth year student at Mackie Academy has already been given an unconditional acceptance to study biology at Edinburgh University.
The 17-year-old, who has a catalogue of allergies and suffers from related conditions like eczema and asthma, has her heart set on helping other people in her predicament.
She said: “I want to specialise in immunology, which is something I have already learned a lot about as my conditions all relate to the immune system.
“I would like to help develop medication, and I have already done a lot of research into the science behind allergies on my own.
“I find understanding that chemical process to be a big help.”
Gemma is allergic to all nuts, some seeds and raw egg whites and also has hayfever.
The teenager described how a family outing to an Indian restaurant once went awry simply because her meal had been prepared in an oven previously been used to cook a meal involving nuts.
Gemma says she has since had some “close encounters” where dishes advertised as not containing nuts have failed to live up to that promise.
She is understandably anxious about leaving home for the first time later this year, as she relies on her parents to advise her on what she has suffered allergic reactions to in the past.
The youngster also takes daily doses of medicine and regular puffs of her inhaler, but is determined to approach the challenge with a positive outlook.
The rate of anaphylaxis in the UK is increasing, with a rise in hospital admissions from one to seven cases per 100,000 population per year between 1992 and 2012.
But alongside those worrying figures, scientific strides are already being made to help sufferers.
American scientists are working on a nasal spray which, when administered monthly, prevents mice from having allergic reactions to peanut products.
They hope to undertake human trials in the near future.
