Hudson's Treatment at Socal Food Allergy Institute
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On February 17th, 2018, when Hudson was only 6 months old, he went into anaphylaxis after drinking a smoothie containing peanuts and milk. He was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance where they gave him an epipen and hooked him up to oxygen. After a long and scary stay in the emergency room, Hudson was finally given the all-clear and we were sent on our way with a referral to see an allergist. When we visited the allergist a couple of weeks later we found out the sad news that Hudson’s allergies were actually much worse than we had even imagined. He tested severely allergic to all dairy, nuts, eggs, peas, oats, and a number of other foods. Since then we have altered our whole way of life, we have avoided any contact with these foods, and yet he still continues to get hives on his body a couple of times a week from seemingly unpreventable contact with these foods.
Fast forward to summer 2019: we found out about a program called the SoCal Food Allergy Institute in Long Beach after connecting with some other families with children with similar stories. We were blown away to hear that this program was completely curing thousands of kids of their food and environmental allergies. A child who was deathly allergic to peanuts (like Hudson) can now eat as much or as little peanut product as he wants, for the rest of his life, with absolutely no reaction. The only catch was, it was extremely expensive and not covered by insurance. So naturally, we added ourselves to the waitlist, and started praying that God would provide for us by the time our name got to the top of the list.
What we thought would be a 2 year waiting period actually only took 9 months, which was a huge unexpected blessing!! The only downside is that this has not left us as much time to save, but postponing his treatment at this point would mean going back to the bottom of the waitlist, which could last up to 2 more years. But, as we consider what is best for our son, and his health and safety, we feel strongly that this is the time to act, even though the finances don’t make sense yet.
We are willing to make whatever sacrifices it takes and we are getting creative to find any means possible of paying for Hudson’s treatment. As we have shared our story with many of our family and friends, we have been asked repeatedly to create a way for others to get involved, so that is what we are doing here. We know that many of you out there love Hudson dearly and we have created this page as a practical way for you to come alongside us and invest in his future. As you consider these things, here are a few of the known costs that we are preparing for:
SCFAI costs:
- $4,500 Annual Fee (a minimum of a 4 year program)
- Lab/Blood Work - $3,500 - $9,000
- Skin Test / Patch Test - $2,000
- Sublingual Immunotherapy - $1,200 a year
- Daily allergy medicine costs
- His food dosing at-home costs
- In-Office Visit copays.
4 year total : $24,700 - $33,800+
Our desire is that Hudson would one day live a life of food freedom, and that he wouldn’t even remember these days of living in fear of common foods. We thank you for the part that you play in Hudson’s life. We thank you for your love, we thank you for your prayers, and we cannot wait for that day to come when we can announce that Hudson is completely cured of all of his food allergies!
If you or someone you know has severe food allergies and you'd like to learn more about the program, head over to their website for more details >> https://socalfoodallergy.org/ <<
God bless!
Drew, Emily, Hudson, Jack and Baby#3
Some specifics about the process of Hudson's Treatment:
- This program’s goal is to completely “cure” (my words) kids of their food allergies. They are not simply learning how to maintain, avoid, or tolerate them better. The end result is that he will LITERALLY be able to eat as much or as little of these foods as he wants, every single day! No more fear of going into anaphylaxis, or getting hives. This is what we call “Food Freedom.” And they have a 99% success rate! This rate is absolutely unheard of!!
- The tests that Hudson is getting done right now will basically be used to create a rigid meal plan that he’ll follow for the next 2-4 years (We’ll find out how long in 7 weeks). He will work on one type of food at a time, like nuts, milk, eggs, grains, etc. Each day he will have a “dosage” of one food, that he will slowly increase each week, until he moves onto the next food. (Milk in itself will take one whole year to complete).
- For example: in the nut allergy group, there are maybe 20 different nuts he will have to introduce into his system, one at a time. We know that the pine nut is first, which has a low count of some kind of protein in it, which is also in the peanut. After the pine nut, he’ll move on to Brazil nut, or hazelnut, walnut, etc., and eventually, he’ll be able to eat a peanut. For his final nut “food challenge,” he will consume 75 peanuts in one sitting at the doctors office. Seriously!!
- After he challenges one food group completely (nuts), he will continue to consume that food every day, then every week, than every month, until he is in “remission.” He will have to “challenge” that food once a month (75 peanuts again), while eating as much or as little as he wants every other day. This helps his body to keep recognizing these foods as safe!
- This program uses EXTENSIVE research, tests, and blood work, and combines all of the factors including environmental allergies, animal allergies, food allergies, personal and family history, frequency of ingestion, etc., into one massive detailed plan for ONLY HUDSON! No other plan of action will look identical to his. It is made specifically for him! How incredible is that!!
Fast forward to summer 2019: we found out about a program called the SoCal Food Allergy Institute in Long Beach after connecting with some other families with children with similar stories. We were blown away to hear that this program was completely curing thousands of kids of their food and environmental allergies. A child who was deathly allergic to peanuts (like Hudson) can now eat as much or as little peanut product as he wants, for the rest of his life, with absolutely no reaction. The only catch was, it was extremely expensive and not covered by insurance. So naturally, we added ourselves to the waitlist, and started praying that God would provide for us by the time our name got to the top of the list.
What we thought would be a 2 year waiting period actually only took 9 months, which was a huge unexpected blessing!! The only downside is that this has not left us as much time to save, but postponing his treatment at this point would mean going back to the bottom of the waitlist, which could last up to 2 more years. But, as we consider what is best for our son, and his health and safety, we feel strongly that this is the time to act, even though the finances don’t make sense yet.
We are willing to make whatever sacrifices it takes and we are getting creative to find any means possible of paying for Hudson’s treatment. As we have shared our story with many of our family and friends, we have been asked repeatedly to create a way for others to get involved, so that is what we are doing here. We know that many of you out there love Hudson dearly and we have created this page as a practical way for you to come alongside us and invest in his future. As you consider these things, here are a few of the known costs that we are preparing for:
SCFAI costs:
- $4,500 Annual Fee (a minimum of a 4 year program)
- Lab/Blood Work - $3,500 - $9,000
- Skin Test / Patch Test - $2,000
- Sublingual Immunotherapy - $1,200 a year
- Daily allergy medicine costs
- His food dosing at-home costs
- In-Office Visit copays.
4 year total : $24,700 - $33,800+
Our desire is that Hudson would one day live a life of food freedom, and that he wouldn’t even remember these days of living in fear of common foods. We thank you for the part that you play in Hudson’s life. We thank you for your love, we thank you for your prayers, and we cannot wait for that day to come when we can announce that Hudson is completely cured of all of his food allergies!
If you or someone you know has severe food allergies and you'd like to learn more about the program, head over to their website for more details >> https://socalfoodallergy.org/ <<
God bless!
Drew, Emily, Hudson, Jack and Baby#3
Some specifics about the process of Hudson's Treatment:
- This program’s goal is to completely “cure” (my words) kids of their food allergies. They are not simply learning how to maintain, avoid, or tolerate them better. The end result is that he will LITERALLY be able to eat as much or as little of these foods as he wants, every single day! No more fear of going into anaphylaxis, or getting hives. This is what we call “Food Freedom.” And they have a 99% success rate! This rate is absolutely unheard of!!
- The tests that Hudson is getting done right now will basically be used to create a rigid meal plan that he’ll follow for the next 2-4 years (We’ll find out how long in 7 weeks). He will work on one type of food at a time, like nuts, milk, eggs, grains, etc. Each day he will have a “dosage” of one food, that he will slowly increase each week, until he moves onto the next food. (Milk in itself will take one whole year to complete).
- For example: in the nut allergy group, there are maybe 20 different nuts he will have to introduce into his system, one at a time. We know that the pine nut is first, which has a low count of some kind of protein in it, which is also in the peanut. After the pine nut, he’ll move on to Brazil nut, or hazelnut, walnut, etc., and eventually, he’ll be able to eat a peanut. For his final nut “food challenge,” he will consume 75 peanuts in one sitting at the doctors office. Seriously!!
- After he challenges one food group completely (nuts), he will continue to consume that food every day, then every week, than every month, until he is in “remission.” He will have to “challenge” that food once a month (75 peanuts again), while eating as much or as little as he wants every other day. This helps his body to keep recognizing these foods as safe!
- This program uses EXTENSIVE research, tests, and blood work, and combines all of the factors including environmental allergies, animal allergies, food allergies, personal and family history, frequency of ingestion, etc., into one massive detailed plan for ONLY HUDSON! No other plan of action will look identical to his. It is made specifically for him! How incredible is that!!
Organizer
Emily Grateke
Organizer
La Mirada, CA