Just Another Mommy Blog

Chloe's food allergies are largely under control. We know what they are, and we manage well day to day. We carry her emergency medications with us, and know when to use them. We have effectively found a balance between keeping her safe, and letting her be a kid. She goes to the park, music class, playgroup, reading time at the library. She has small reactions to things regularly, but overall, she is happy, healthy and thriving. More and more, her allergies are taking a place at the back of my mind, not the front of it. We are optimistic that she will either outgrow some of her allergies, or that they will find an effective treatment. But for the most part, we just accept her allergies as lifelong, and go about our lives.

But every so often, I get a sober reminder of the seriousness of her food allergies, and I am taken back to the day she had anaphylaxis. Today it came in one of my food allergy newsletters. Two years ago today, Kailey Bowles died from her milk allergy. She was a seven year old girl was bright, friendly and sweet. Like us, her family knew the seriousness of her allergy, but also did their best to let her be a child. Her girl scout troop made sand art, a project she kept in her room for a couple of months. One day, she opened the jar, and tasted the brown sand. It wasn't sand, it was hot chocolate. She went into anaphylaxis, and she died. My heart aches for this family, and my thoughts are with them today.

You can read about Kailey here.