Hi, my name is Amie. But this isn't about me, it's about my baby Irelynn (Irie for short).

In March, Irie had an anaphylactic allergic reaction to peanuts. We rushed to the hospital and within one hour, she had went from some slight swelling around the mouth to full on body hives, coughing and vomiting. They administered epinephrine immediately with steroids and Benadryl intravenously. Luckily, it worked to keep her reaction under control. We now have an EpiPen and a whole new perspective on food labeling.

Why am I creating a GoFundMe? Especially when we live in Canada and are not sent a bill after we visit the ER?

Irelynn has chance to live her life without a permanent EpiPen fanny pack strapped to her and the constant fear of ingesting something that could send her into a life threatening reaction.

Oral Immunotherapy Treatment is a new and promising treatment that would allow her to take a daily dose of peanut protein, increasing gradually, until she can tolerate a safe level of her allergen. This treatment has shown to create a tolerance to peanuts that allows for kids, like Irie, to be able to ingest some peanut with little to no reaction. It essentially takes away the risk of life threatening events. Not only that, but after a maintenance dose is achieved and maintained for awhile, some are able to come off the maintenance therapy and maintain their tolerance to peanuts. In a promising number of cases, some attain full remission. It appears the earlier you start, the better chance you have to be one of the ones to achieve full remission.

However, because it is a newer approach, none of the treatment is covered by OHIP or by drug plans. We must pay out of pocket for the drugs and for the biweekly/monthly visits to assess and increase her doses. This is usually for about 12-18 months until maintenance dose can be achieved.

We want to give Irelynn this chance. We don't want to wonder if we could have increased her ability to live without the fear of a life threatening episode happening from just a slight mishap. We want that for us, too. Which is why I'm putting this out there. If you can help, please do so. We are forever grateful.

Thank you,

Amie, Matt, Addie, Edgar, Irie & Eden

 https://www.labroots.com/trending/drug-discovery-and-development/22135/oral-immunotherapy-peanut-allergy-remission