WHILE most of Chorley will be cracking open the eggs on Easter Sunday, one local teenager will be biting into an apple.

For 19-year-old Catherine Donnegan, of The Grove, Chorley, is coming to terms with the fact she can't eat chocolate without feeling the side effects, and that's more than just a bout of stomach ache.

The prospective Durham University student now immediately comes out in a rash as soon as any chocolate reaches her lips. And life can be hell for her, because she used to be a self confessed chocoholic.

Catherine said: "I used to eat chocolate all the time and I really loved it. But then I started getting all these bad side effects, especially the rash. It makes me look all spotty.

"Now, I have to use all my will power to stop myself eating chocolate because it is such a natural reaction."

Catherine added she now eats crisps and fruit to fill her up between meals, which isn't always a bad thing.

"It's helped me to keep in shape because I'm not always eating food which is bad for me.

"I haven't had a lot of help from my friends, who all seem to take the rip out of me. They think its quite funny, but it isn't.

"I know that if I take even one bite of chocolate I'll break into the rash. Then I will have the taste for it and have to eat the rest of the bar or box.

"But I am lucky in that it doesn't turn my world upside down, I am able to eat milk related products, which some people can't. It's chocolate that doesn't agree with me."

So while most people are tucking into their Easter egg-stravaganzas, Catherine will have to make do with an apple.

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