A head-and-shoulders image of Charlie Clarke, who has long, brown hair and wears a brown-and-white striped top and yellow glasses with a white beaded chain on them.
Image caption,

Charlie kept her condition hidden for years and says it made her life "hell" at times

ByMarie-Louise ConnollyHealth correspondent, BBC News NI
  • Published4 hours ago

As a teenager at school, Charlie Clarke "felt awful" in her uniform, with a physical deformity leaving her so self-conscious that she hid from her classmates.

At home, she wrapped her dressing gown tight around her chest, hoping it would conceal her condition - and didn't even tell her parents about it.

Now 26, Charlie has lived with pectus excavatum - a congenital chest wall condition that can make the chest appear sunken or hollow - for years.