Our son turned 4 this past September and I am happy to say that he has been free of an anaphylaxic reaction for 2 years now. With much prayer and diligence on our part and those that love him, we are keeping him safe. During his teenage years is what scares us the most as you well know. So please consider what I am about to say and as a group we can hopefully persuade some important people.
I' m sure most of us have heard about the breakthrough immunotherapy discoveries that Duke University and Arkansas University have made. My husband and I seriously considered moving to North Carolina last year to enroll my son in these studies since you have to live within at least 4 hours of the site. We currently live around the Nashville, TN area and my thought was this: How many children's lives can be helped/saved in TN and surrounding states if Vanderbilt took on immunotherapy case studies? Think of the advances they could make collaborating with Duke and Arkansas University!! If you have not looked at some of these case studies I encourage you to do so. So many of you live 4 hours or less from downtown Nashville. All we have to do is pique the interest of these doctors that work at Vanderbilt and get the message out that we would support their efforts. I intend to write my letter to these doctors tonight and I hope that you all will take the time to do the same. I will write one overall letter just like I did to government officials. I think the only way talk about these immunotherapy studies amongst doctors will begin is through us. We have to speak up for medical breakthroughs in our area now!!!
So what I encourage us all to do is write a persuasive letter to the doctors encouraging them to get on board with immunotherpay. Yes, it scares me immensly to subject my DS to any peanut protein but the studies are controlled and successful in so many cases. If my son was "cured" I would most definetly still keep him away from all nut products but it wouldn't be so life threatening. Many severly allergic children die during their teenage years and I am wanting to stop this from being a possibilty. Also, I have read about allergy children being bullied at school and their lives threatened by these bullies. That's not ok!!
These are the doctors at Vanderbilt's ASAP (Asthma Sinus Allergy Program):
Kenneth S. Babe, Jr., M.D.
John M. Fahrenholz, M.D
Samuel R. Marney, Jr., M.D.
James A. Duncavage, M.D.
David D. Hagaman, M.D.
S. Bobo Tanner, M.D.
Ryszard Dworski, M.D.
Peggy L. Kendall, M.D.
Address:
Vanderbilt ASAP Research
2611 West End Avenue, Suite 120
Nashville, TN 37203
I am going to send a letter to the office and to each individual
physcian. If food allergy resaerch isn't their area, then maybe Vanderbilt will bring a food allergy specialist onto their staff.
Sincerely,
Tim and Whitney
__________________
Whitney
*DS with severe peanut (therefore all nuts)and egg allergy*
*DS #2 will be tested next year*
I am 25yrs old with a severe peanut allergy, and have had one all of my life. I recently moved to Arkansas (20minutes away from the University of Arkansas) for work, and happened to read your post. Do you know who I can contact about the study happening here in Arkansas? I would love to find out more about it.
Thanks so much... and I am VERY happy for your son! I know how hard it can be growing up with the allergy, and hope all of the best for him!
Jessica