Food Allergies, for obvious reasons, are very near and dear to my heart. Over the time since Kayla’s diagnosis, I have seen it all. I have gotten into fights and confrontations. I have seen how ugly people can be towards a child. But more importantly, I have seen the amazing amount of compassion and understanding that adults are capable of. But most importantly, I have seen the compassion and understanding come from children. I have seen how Kayla’s peers (family and friends alike) just want to keep her safe and included. It is these acts of kindness that keep us going and keep our fight to give Kayla a normal life (with parties, playdates, etc) going strong. I have also gotten so many questions from family, friends and strangers on food allergies. I love questions. It opens up a dialogue so I can educate. Education is the key to growing awareness and understanding. One question I have gotten from my Father is whether or not the rise in food allergies can be attributed more to better diagnosis and tracking rather than a true increase. I can see his point. If food allergies were vastly unknown 30+ years ago, then how can you track it properly? I can not necessarily accurately speak for the tracking and reporting of food allergies, but I can speak from my own personal experiences.

I have an excellent memory. I have memories to be age 3 and can picture the outside and inside of my Montessori preschool classroom. I’d love to see it in person to see how accurate my recollection is. But I digress. Growing up I did not have any friends with food allergies or even dietary restrictions. Food allergies were never a topic or an issue in my circle of friends or in the schools I attended. In my circle of friends, families and acquaintences, Kayla was the first child diagnosed with a food allergy. She was diagnosed 4 years ago. Since her diagnosis, excluding those I have met through her allergy (like in my support group), seven, I repeat seven kids in our circle (including family and friends) have been diagnosed with food allergies. Kayla would make eight! So yes, food allergies are definitely on the rise!

So this week, in honor of FAAW, I have helped Kayla’s allergist distribute flyers with some basic facts on food allergies as well as how to deal with a reaction. Kayla preschool distributed copies of the flyer to every student. I contacted and sent the flyer to the nurse at Kayla’s future public school. From the response I got from her at that time, I got the feeling it would not be distributed. That feeling has been validated by the repeated unreturned messages I have left for her since then. I can tell that Kayla’s public school experience will be a nightmare for me. But luckily her allergist has gotten it distributed to other local public schools and my Mom was able to get it distributed either by mail or electronically at the school where she works.

I will also be sending in a couple of our food allergy children’s books to school with Kayla this week for her teacher to share with the class. I may also give her our CD of food allergy songs.

Friday, I will be joining members of our support group on a trip to New York City. We will be meeting up at the train station for the 3:53am train to the City. We will all be decked out in t-shirts sporting the name of our support group and head to the outside of the Today Show in the hopes of getting noticed to bring some attention to food allergies. Apparently, not too long ago a group did this for Autism and got some air time. J is joining me for this trip, although I hope he doesn’t change his mind when he sees the time the train departs. So please cross your fingers that we at least get shown on TV. And if you watch the Today Show – look for me with.