Help Lucas achieve food freedom!

Hi, we're James and Fernanda, parents to our wonderful little boy Lucas. If you know us, you know we're not known for asking for a lot of help. We like to be self-sufficient, do it ourselves, figure it out. But this is something we cannot do on our own, and so we're calling in our village to help us.

Lucas, our spirited, red-haired boy, suffers from severe food allergies—dairy, shellfish, and sesame seeds. And when I say severe, I mean immediate trips to the hospital, multiple EpiPens, closed airways—the whole thing. His first reaction occurred at six months old during a seemingly harmless feeding of Greek yogurt, leading us to a terrifying rush to the hospital. Though there were no major complications that time, it marked the beginning of an ongoing struggle with his allergies.

This has been our reality for the last five years: avoiding dining out, packing our own allergy-safe foods, and living in fear of emergency calls from his school. Every cough, every sneeze, every itchiness when he eats creates sheer anxiety for us.

And now it’s also causing anxiety for him. Our sweet boy is starting to worry about what he eats. He checks and triple-checks that the foods he's been given are safe. Because he knows what it's like to be stabbed with an EpiPen, to be driven to the hospital furiously, to see his mom and dad worry, to be surrounded by doctors as they give him a third dose of epinephrine hoping this last dose will do the trick, to be so itchy all over his body, to feel like he's having trouble breathing.

We've seen multiple allergy doctors, and we were told this is just the unfortunate life of a child with food allergies.

But a few months ago, as I randomly scrolled Instagram, I saw a mom post about how her son is finally able to eat ice cream from an ice cream store without worrying about anaphylaxis. I was intrigued and wanted to see if it was a fluke, maybe her son had been one of the lucky ones who happened to outgrow it. But then she mentioned the Food Allergy Institute. And immediately, I started researching.

I found out that the Food Allergy Institute is the only clinic not only treating severe food allergies but also helping patients achieve complete food remission—no more allergies.

Finding this clinic gave us the hope we never thought was possible, a life for Lucas without worrying about what could happen if he ever ingests dairy, shellfish, or sesame.

The challenge is that this treatment is in California, and as Canadians, we face substantial out-of-pocket costs for treatment, lab tests, and required travel—a total ranging from $25,000 to $30,000 yearly, and will be in treatment for 2-3 years. We are prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure Lucas's safety and well-being, but the financial burden is daunting.

Thus, we're reaching out to you, our friends and family, who have shared in our journey and love Lucas as we do. Any support you can offer to help fund Lucas's treatment would mean the world to us and potentially change his life forever. Thank you for considering our heartfelt request to help us secure a brighter, safer future for our son.