Eli and the Food Allergies

I run a non-profit called The Young Artist’s Club, and strangely enough, it would not exist without Eli’s food allergies. I think, had Eli not had food allergies, I would have just volunteered in both of my kids’ classrooms and never done more. That is what I had been doing with my oldest son who…

In addition to tree nuts, Eli is allergic to milk and eggs. Baking without eggs and milk is, by far, one of the hardest transitions we made. When I first tried baking without eggs and milk, it was so frustrating. It felt like, for awhile there, that I would never be able to have good…

Eli wasn’t much of a breakfast eater before this program. Now, because of all of the maintenance foods and timing requirements, he eats a fairly large breakfast most mornings.  Every morning he eats maintenance foods (foods he has challenged in the clinic that will condition his body to tolerate his allergens). Right now, I bake…

We are Christians, and Christians participate in sacraments that bring us together and help us remember who and what we believe in, they draw us closer together as believers. Many of these sacraments are ancient things done in various denominations right now and throughout history, time, and the world. One of those sacraments is communion,…

Our third appointment was another one that Adam, my husband, took Eli to and was only a one day appointment. Because these appointments happen all year long, and it is during the school year, we try to keep the trips as short as possible. They fly down one day, stay the night in a hotel,…

What does it mean to really include another person? We see the term inclusion thrown around a lot, at least in the education world that I inhabit. The goal of inclusion is to ensure that all people, regardless of disabilities, are able to be included. It is a simple, but very difficult goal.  I think…

Eli and I flew down to Long Beach for two days of appointments for his second trip. We were pretty nervous, knowing we would be learning the whole plan, going over testing results, and doing a few more tests before we got started.  In our first appointment they did two lung tests with Eli. The…

I thought I would pause my information sharing each week to share with you a hidden blessing of food allergies. Even though these will be positive stories, I haven’t shared them a lot. They hit the tenderest part of me as a mom, they are wrapped up in my own anxiety and sense of responsibility,…

When we decided to do this program, we already knew we would be flying down to the Food Allergy Institute in Long Beach, CA every few months for appointments. We decided that, for the most part, we would trade off who went with Eli every other time. In this way, we are both able to…

Between Eli’s appointments, we dose him at home with foods that will condition his body for the eventual introduction of his allergenic foods. They do this because they are foods with biosimilar food proteins to his allergens. All of this is based on extensive testing that took several appointments to complete that I will write…