Saturday, September 09, 2006

Searching For a Cure

Jim The Small Child Nephew harbors some very dangerous food allergies: peanuts, milk, eggs, everything fun. Like his godmother's OCD, it's not curable, only controllable. Everywhere he goes, a dose of Epinephrine we hope we never have to use tags along in a little red bag-- and even then, the shot will only buy us just enough time to rush him to the emergency room in the event of a reaction.

The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network promotes awareness, emotional support, and information for families of those with severe food allergies. Recently it teamed up with GoodSearch, which, in conjunction with Yahoo!, will donate to FAAN every time the site is used.

So the next time you do an Internet search--such as I just conducted on my upcoming scientific study on whether or not there is some sort of federal mandate dictating that all quarterbacks must be hot-- please use GoodSearch, and enter FAAN in the "I'm Supporting" blank. It's a great way to help without, you know, actual effort, so go ahead... be awesome and make the site your homepage.

Thank you, The Readers. I appreciate it. So does Jim and his confused immune system. Maybe someday he'll be able to shove his face into a birthday cake not involving soy.

savor your research at: mb@blondechampagne.com

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

MB, have you seen this article about food allergies at BBC.com today?:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5329572.stm

Apparently, scientists expect to erradicate food allergies in 10 years. Good news for nephews and nieces small and large!

Anonymous said...

That is VERY good news, Monica! Thanks for the link :)

ShannJ said...

Hey MB, there's a huge food allergy article in today's Cincinnati Enquirer. I'm sure your family has already seen it, but just in case, I thought I'd let you know. I didn't realize Jim had those allergies. We still haven't exposed Sean to peanuts yet. If you remember Michelle from Mercy - her little boy has the peanut/tree nut allergy as well - scary stuff. I'll definitely check out that site - thanks for the heads up!

Anonymous said...

Consider it done, MB. I was very fortunate to go through life with very minor, non-life threatening allergies.

Monica, I hope they are able to do so, for Jim's sake and others.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much, ladies. My family and I truly appreciate it.

Jenib said...

I am severely allergic to onions. I am also sensitive or allergic to milk, wheat, AND SOY among other foods so that leaves just about any kind of fun out for me. Unless I want to chug some Benadryl and take my chances. I can't begin to count all the times I have been looked at like I grew too heads once I announce the onion allergy. Onions are so common, they are included in every type of packaged food avilable in one form or another. We have had so many close calls at restaurants, I barely eat out anymore and only buy food from places that know who I am. It's frightening but I do what I can by carrying around my epi pen and my family sized bottle of liquid benadryl with me everywhere I go (I have found that the liquid works faster). I am praying that food allergies will be a thing of the past in the future.

Anonymous said...

My youngest (19 months) had an allergy test a couple of weeks ago that returned some interesting results. His only severe allergy is to grass. The rest of his allergies are mild to moderate, including milk, pears, watermelon, and citrus fruits. Apparently watermelon juice is used in a lot of hard candies and canned fruit because it is among the cheaper juices. And trying to find foods without milk or milk products is pretty difficult. On an upnote, neither chocolate nor peanut butter produced a reaction. I guess instead of cake for his birthday we'll get him a huge Reese's Cup.

Anonymous said...

I was allergic to everything as a kid, and thankfully have grown out of almost all of it, so there's hope. I still have my old medical bracelet that says "if found, feed only chicken, rice, pears, and water." :-)

Anonymous said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was unknowingly needing a dose of morning 'hotness'. Woo hoo! I can barely type!

Thank you for the picture! :)

Anonymous said...

Wow, we really aren't alone here, are we? Thanks for sharing your experiences-- jennib, especially... THAT SUCKS. I'm so sorry you have to deal with all that. My college roommate's dad has a corn syrup allergy, a life I care to not even contemplate.

Anonymous said...

It's kind of a paradox isn't it? Allergies are a pandemic among the population of developed countries. It's almost as if the more you want to protect your kids and mantain them in an antiseptic environment, the more chances their inmune systems are going to overreact to any stimuly...

Anonymous said...

Many of us have food sensitivities rather than allergies. It's inconvenient, but not debilitating. It can be frightening to discover a food allergy. My sister was on a diet a few years ago so she could fit into her wedding dress. The diet required her to eat mostly tuna and bananas at lunchtime. It wasn't long before we noticed that her head was swelling up and her eyes were red and twitching (and it wasn't because she was turning into Bridezilla). It turned out that she had developed allergies to both tuna AND bananas. The doctor told us that food allergies and sensitivities can change as we age. That corn syrup allergy you mentioned could hit any one of us at any time. Eat while you still can!

Anonymous said...

My aunt found out her little boy is severely allergic to peanuts at his first birthday party. The lady that made his cake used fondant icing, which had peanuts in it. It was a terribly scary thing to watch.

We didn't know at the time that it was peanuts, though. That was confirmed when they took him to one of those restaurants that let you throw your peanut shells on the floor. Before they even got a table he was swelling up from the peanut dust in the air.

Thanks for the link, MB - I've never heard of anything like that, and my family will be very interested in it.

~Savannah

Anonymous said...

Aw... poor little guy.

I like Monica's advice.

Anonymous said...

Thanks doddy. It's very important to me that my godchild experience the wonders of chocolate.

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