Food Allergy Video

I'm always afraid that I harp on this too much on the blog. I don't want to be a downer. But I want food allergy awareness and I want a cure. I can't do much to affect that outcome, but in my own small way I'd like to feel like I contribute. So, read on if you can hang out with me on my soapbox today.

Food Allergy Initiative makes some very stirring videos about young children with food allergies, but they posted one recently that was really poignant for me. Click here to watch the video on youtube. (It's called "Life Embrace.")

And now I'm going to ramble on about the video and the things that struck me.

First, the video describes life within the food allergy community very well. Things that become "normal" for families with children with food allergies. Like trips to the ER, what color someone actually turns when they stop breathing, the heartbreak of your child not getting invited somewhere because other people are afraid of his disease. We've never had a trip to the ER with David ... he was already in the hospital when he started to go into anaphylaxis ... but David wasn't even two years old yet when we were flat out told by someone we considered a friend that our family was not invited to a celebration because of David's allergies. It didn't matter that my husband and I would have been present to watch over David. Just his allergies were enough to scare this family. I've listed off David's allergies and had more than one person respond immediately with "well, he'll never be able to come to my house."

The other response that I get typically when I list off David's allergies is "well, it's not a big deal, because he's going to grow out of it." And yes, hopefully that will happen, but we have to accept the fact that, right now, with David's IgE levels as high as they've been in the past, he may spend his entire childhood allergic to most ordinary foods. And like the narrator of the video says, his allergies change who he is. By the time David finishes childhood his allergies will be a major contributor to his personality - how he handles conflict, people ... how he feels about himself ... will he have good self-esteem and self-efficacy when he hears "no" more than "yes" in regards to what he can eat and do? I, like the narrator, find it hard to forgive the disease for the negative ways it changes my son.

I realized the other day that he may never be able to do the dishes in our home if something doesn't change. I know that sounds weird, but as a teenager one of my major chores was evening dishes ... and I won't let David anywhere near our kitchen sink, ever.

All of these little thoughts about things that make David's life different than what is typical make me, like the narrator of this video, ache for a cure. A cure. Not for him to grow out of it (though of course I hope for that too) but I hope for it to stop now. Not after ten more years of hoping that he doesn't hurt himself accidentally. Not after ten more years of hoping that other children don't pick on him too much or try to hurt him out of ignorance and cruelty. Not after a lifetime of wondering what else he'll become allergic to as he grows up. I want a cure now.

And I understand that food allergies aren't glamorous, it isn't an easy cause to wrap your brain around. That very reason is why we need a cure. This disease is so insidious. It effects every part of a child's day, but it's hidden from view 99.9% of the time. Allergies effect David's entire development process. Allergies changes who he is. Allergies could kill him at any time.