Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Peanut Allergy

My grandson who is 3 ½ years old was recently diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy. We suspected he might be allergic to peanuts because the few times he was exposed to peanuts in his life he got hives. The second exposure to peanuts was simply a food containing peanut oil touching his lips, and he immediately came down with hives. My daughter and son in law had him tested for allergies and he was found to have several nut allergies, the peanut allergy being quite severe.
Because of his severe peanut allergy his parents have become quite focused on reading labels and not allowing anything that is not “safe” to be taken into their home. Not only do they need to watch out for the obvious which is peanuts and peanut butter, but peanut oil as well, or foods processed in the same facility as peanuts. When eating at a restaurant they must ask if peanuts or peanut oil is used in any of the menu items. They have a number of epipens (used in case of anaphylactic shock) which they take everywhere with them. They order peanut free candy and purchase foods only from companies that have their ingredients clearly labeled and they know to be safe.
Sending a child with a severe allergy off to daycare, school, or preschool is a very scary situation for a parent. Will another child offer him a peanut butter cookie and he’ll take it, not realizing the danger? Will the daycare provider forget he has a severe allergy?
It is at my daughter’s request that I designed my current line of peanut and food allergy T-shirts. She wanted a peanut allergy button, T-shirt, and stickers for my grandson so I designed several and he now has several buttons, stickers, and a peanut allergy T-shirt. We hope that it will help to remind everyone he sees that he has a life threatening allergy to peanuts, and also make people in general aware of the fact that food allergies can be life threatening.
You can see some of my Peanut Allergy T-shirts, buttons, and other items by clicking on the photo link below.