UV window film lets Scottish toddler play safely with curtains open

Two-year-old Mollie Murray can now draw, watch for the postman and play inside her father’s home in Montrose with the curtains open. UV-resistant film fitted to the windows protects her from ultraviolet light, which poses an exceptional danger because she has xeroderma pigmentosum, or XP.

The £600 adaptation, installed on 15 July, covers the whole downstairs and Mollie’s bedroom. The Archie Foundation funded the work after the NHS had paid for similar protection at her mother’s home but no funding was available for her father’s house, where she spends much of her time.

XP has no cure, and Mollie is the only child in the UK known to have her specific variant. Doctors have told her family that she is 10,000 times more likely to develop skin cancer than other children. She can safely go outdoors only after dark or with full protective clothing, while her mother uses a UV monitor to check indoor spaces.

Before the film was installed, the family had to keep the curtains closed and play in darkness. The new protection does not reduce the need for careful monitoring, but it gives Mollie more freedom to enjoy ordinary childhood activities in daylight.