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Ollie is an amazing little boy who is smart, kind and thoughtful and just like every parent we want to give him the world. Our greatest wish as his parents is for him to eat without the risk of death.
When Ollie was 7 months old we gave him his first meatball (a treasured family tradition) only to be met with our first (of many) anaphylactic reaction. Upon being woken up from his afternoon nap he was covered in hives, both eyes were swollen shut, his ears were twice their normal size, his neck had golf ball sized lumps all over and he was vomiting. This was when we first knew we were dealing with a severe allergic reaction. After meeting with a specialist we found out Ollie has a life threatening allergy to garlic. Since then a dozen more food allergies (egg, dairy, peanut, tree nuts, soy, sesame and fish to name a few) have been added to the avoidance list, many of them severe enough to be anaphylactic. As you can imagine this makes meal time incredibly challenging especially when garlic and sesame don’t have to be listed on labels.
The number of food allergies he has makes every day places such as restaurants, other people's homes and parks very high risk environments. It also makes him ineligible for many schools because they can't accommodate some of the less common allergens safely. As his parents we don't want him to continue to miss out on what other kids his age experience and we want him to live life to the fullest.
After seeing several allergists and immunologists we kept getting the same medical advice: avoid all allergens and keep testing to see if anything changes. While that might be a good plan of action if we were facing one or two food allergies but to avoid over a dozen foods/ingredients, and in some cases entire food groups, this advice isn’t feasible or realistic. We were at a loss as to how to help our son. After much searching and research we were able to find hope: The Southern California Food Allergy Institute in California (SoCal). SoCal is a highly tailored food allergy program with a nearly 100% success rate. Not only will they treat all of his food allergies (as well as any environment allergies) they will train Ollie’s immune system to tolerate any allergens that we may not even know about yet.
The money raised here will be used to pay for travel and program costs for Ollie’s treatment in California over the next several years that insurance won't cover. The nearly 100% success rate at SoCal is Ollie's best chance at achieving food freedom and living a full, healthy life in remission.
You can follow Ollie's food journey on Instagram: @OllieWantsATamale (or just search for Ollie Cusick)
If you're interested in learning more about the SoCal Food Allergy program, visit: https://www.socalfoodallergy.org
When Ollie was 7 months old we gave him his first meatball (a treasured family tradition) only to be met with our first (of many) anaphylactic reaction. Upon being woken up from his afternoon nap he was covered in hives, both eyes were swollen shut, his ears were twice their normal size, his neck had golf ball sized lumps all over and he was vomiting. This was when we first knew we were dealing with a severe allergic reaction. After meeting with a specialist we found out Ollie has a life threatening allergy to garlic. Since then a dozen more food allergies (egg, dairy, peanut, tree nuts, soy, sesame and fish to name a few) have been added to the avoidance list, many of them severe enough to be anaphylactic. As you can imagine this makes meal time incredibly challenging especially when garlic and sesame don’t have to be listed on labels.
The number of food allergies he has makes every day places such as restaurants, other people's homes and parks very high risk environments. It also makes him ineligible for many schools because they can't accommodate some of the less common allergens safely. As his parents we don't want him to continue to miss out on what other kids his age experience and we want him to live life to the fullest.
After seeing several allergists and immunologists we kept getting the same medical advice: avoid all allergens and keep testing to see if anything changes. While that might be a good plan of action if we were facing one or two food allergies but to avoid over a dozen foods/ingredients, and in some cases entire food groups, this advice isn’t feasible or realistic. We were at a loss as to how to help our son. After much searching and research we were able to find hope: The Southern California Food Allergy Institute in California (SoCal). SoCal is a highly tailored food allergy program with a nearly 100% success rate. Not only will they treat all of his food allergies (as well as any environment allergies) they will train Ollie’s immune system to tolerate any allergens that we may not even know about yet.
The money raised here will be used to pay for travel and program costs for Ollie’s treatment in California over the next several years that insurance won't cover. The nearly 100% success rate at SoCal is Ollie's best chance at achieving food freedom and living a full, healthy life in remission.
You can follow Ollie's food journey on Instagram: @OllieWantsATamale (or just search for Ollie Cusick)
If you're interested in learning more about the SoCal Food Allergy program, visit: https://www.socalfoodallergy.org