I am the mother of an energetic, bright 7-year-old boy and full-time, professional journalist in Mooresville, North Carolina. My son, Matthew, was diagnosed at age one with severe life-threatening peanut allergies as well as an intolerance to beef, egg, wheat and pork and if that wasn’t enough, he also had eczema and was asthmatic.
My husband Ron and I spent the first few years learning and reading as much as we could about peanut allergies. We had to figure out how to navigate our way around complex and confusing product labels and be able to recognize new ingredients so we could prepare healthy and safe foods for Matthew.
Our biggest challenge was finding meals that appealed to Matthew that were good for him and easy to prepare.
It doesn’t help that I can’t – and don’t really like – to cook. There – I said it. Secret is out. Thanks to my sense of organization (really, I’m OCD) and knack for working fast, I’m the girl you want when it comes to cleaning the kitchen. In fact, if I ever win the lottery and have the chance to build my dream house, it probably wouldn’t even include a kitchen. It would just have a nice, huge dining room with a wine bar, refrigerator and pantry to hold quick, easy and healthy snacks.
Despite our food issues, the one thing our family really needed – and didn’t have access to – was support. From the get-go, we were on our own. We didn’t know anyone else who lived with a peanut allergy child; there were no local groups we could connect with and no online resources to turn to for more information.
When Matthew turned two, we moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to North Carolina; within a year, I met other moms with peanut allergy children who understood the fear and apprehension I had about family functions, play dates, birthday parties and even the first day of school.
By the time Matthew started Kindergarten in 2008, I was serving as a go-to person for parents and friends in my community and online who wanted to learn more about peanut allergies.
I had a wealth of information and a ton of experience dealing with this, so in 2009, I launched PeanutAllergyMom.com, a website that provides resources, tips and articles for families, friends and community members living with and among peanut-allergic children.
The website has undergone a few cosmetic changes and content overhaul while I try to “find” my peanut-allergy-mom voice and figure out exactly how to grow this blog/resource.
So whether you want to ask a question, share a story, pitch an idea or just vent, I’m always here.
