A friend emailed me this article,FreeDigitialphoto.net When I visited the Daily Breeze website the first time there were around 125 comments, but they time I am writing this blog post on Sunday evening there are almost 200 comments! The goal of the author was to tell food allergy parents to lighten up and that mostly likely their child’s food allergy is really a sensitivity and not a true food allergy. The author went as far as to question the validity of the disease of the food allergic parents in at school. Oh my.
Dangerously, she questioned the reality of diagnosis of children with food allergies.
photo attribute: photographer: Ambro courtesy of Phaitoon and freedigitialphotos.net
Can you imagine how the parent who reads this article, dismisses the classroom protocol for food allergic children and then creates a life threatening situation would feel!?! Since this article was written to make the reader believe that the author did her homework, it’s not off the table that something horrible could occur. Truly, we all need to relax a bit in life, but clearly when appropriate and her suggestions are were not appropriate.
photo Attributed to Daily Breeze
I emailed off a Letter to the Editor of the Daily Breeze and you are welcome to check it out. I simply am asking for understanding as to why the Daily Breeze found this article acceptable. I understand that almost 200 comments on a article posting online is desirable to a newspaper, but….. There are many food allergy education lessons in this situation for those of us managing food allergies. First, I think it is important that we remind everyone in our world that they need to come directly to us for food allergy education so that we can point them to vetted sources (read: not articles written by freelance writers with no medical background) or explain our physician’s direction. Second, our work still lays ahead of us in educating poor souls like this author who are not educated and who could cause harm unintentionally. I am sure the author must be horrified at this point after receiving almost 200 very negative comments to her story. I truly believe she did not sit down at her computer with the intention to harm a child, but where are the editors? Where is that journalism safety net of fact checking or approving articles?
What did you think of this article telling us food allergies parents to “relax a bit about Kid’s Food Allergies”, add your comment below?
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
I will give the author the benefit of the doubt and say that she went to the extreme to get recognized and very easy, fast publicity. If so, it clearly worked. If that is not the case, I refuse to waste any more of my energy on her thoughts 🙂
Nutrimon, I am with you! I don’t know if she fully knew she was going to upset folks, but I am pretty sure the Daily Breeze knew this. If my memory serves me, I thought they wrote a nice article last year about a girl with food allergies.
Notice that I do not use her name as I want to minimize attention to the author?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts
Honestly, I just think people who don’t have children with the severe allergies will ever understand. Besides family members and friends, I have even had to educate school nurses about having an Epi-Pen on the bus. I have grown to realize that a child with severe allergies-in my opinion-should be taken as serious as a child with Cancer or other illnesses. Our children face the possibility of dying daily if the wrong food gets into their system. So I don’t think we have the luxury of ever, “Taking it easy.” That would mean putting our guard down and that may become a fatal situation
Renee,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Taking it easy! That is an understatement. My personal goal is to become more Zen, but to let down my guard when managing a food allergy is reckless.
Once my allergist explained that if I felt like I was over doing it then I’m in the game. Next it was a matter determining what steps were vital vs steps that were not effective.
It’s such a hard concept for so many to understand if they never have walked down that path.
We all work so hard to educate people about food allergies to make the world a little safer for our kids. When someone does something like this in a public light (think the great debacle at Nick Moms) it pushes us back. It is a constant struggle to clean up after people who put out misinformation or make light of a life threatening situation. I hope that someone offers this lady a sit down to discuss the reality of food allergies and educates her. Her article is a slap in the face to all the parents who have recently lost someone to food allergies.
I’m hoping the Daily Breeze takes responsibility for the shock jock writing. Are they simply seeking attention to get those huge number of comments?
Although, this gives us all a great example to use when educating others! We can mention the danger of people reading newspaper articles written by freelance writers instead of going to vetted medical sites.
I do not know another’s heart and intent. That’s all I will say to be fair. But she wrote the words. They are now out there, misinforming others about food allergies. Words that will lead folks astray who do not live with this medical disability. And making those who do live with this daily life-threatening condition work even harder to educate and advocate. It is a completely slanderous situation to me. Parents and others with food allergies are being ridiculed, discredited…essentially in my mind…bullied. That’s the subtle tone I detected.
Does the author honestly think living like this, managing a plethora of allergens and cooking mostly from scratch…rarely to never eating out, and when we must (think family gathering obligations), we have to pack for our allergic children lest a flippant chef sautes our child’s veggies in butter…IS FUN?? That we do all of this even though we MIGHT HAVE A CHOICE? We DON’T.
Does she think that a “slight tingling” in the mouth or skin rash/hives is nothing to worry over? She has no room to talk at all if she hasn’t walked a mile in our shoes. Any reaction (even some hives or itchy mouth) is to be prevented, as many times it will increase the severity of the next reaction. Do any of us want ANY reaction at all? Of course not. None are “off the radar” when it comes to food allergies. It’s too dynamic a diagnosis to generalize like this.
I question the legitimacy of this author’s numbers. She doesn’t cite sources throughout the article; only once does she reference Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. It’s purely opinion. Editorial. Not a factual news article. Not in the least.
The author’s tone speaks of annoyance. Of questioning. Of accusing. It speaks of ridicule. It is not respectful. “ONLY” 9500 hospitalizations? ONLY? Those “only’s” don’t matter to the author? No one should care about those people?
And how embarrassed I am for her! In one of the final paragraphs, she suggests that kids will “lead perfectly normal egg-filled, dairy-loving, nut-consuming lives” if only parents will relax. Oh, right. I forgot! My relaxing will magically make our children’s medical disabilities go away! Viola! I’m sorry, this is completely absurd and irresponsible. It’s so bad it almost makes me wonder whether the whole article is a ruse!
The opinion that “I’ll bet that most of the children in my son’s preschool class would do just fine nibbling some foods off the allergy list” is again completely brazen and could very well land a child in the hospital, should anyone just beginning their child’s food allergy journey read this article and take it to heart. This approach is dangerous at minimum and could potentially endanger a child.
Her thoughts in the next paragraph sound almost bitter. And talk about improper GRAMMAR. “Which would allow them to enjoy a proper peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich and chocolate cupcake every once in a while. And let my son celebrate his birthday with something more delicious than soy ice cream.” So again, it sounds as if she is put out by having to follow an allergen list. To include all of the children is an imposition to her and her unfortunate son. He’s being deprived of all of the “really good, acceptable” birthday treats, since he has to THINK OF OTHERS’ medical conditions.
This is sad to me. She is promoting selfishness with this mindset and article. She is not encouraging compassion and respect of others who may be different from her child/other children without food allergies. Healthy tolerance and support for others with food allergies is not being highlighted in this article.
To me, it’s the exact opposite of all of those things. And I find that inexplicably depressing. For her.
For us, we will continue to passionately educate others and advocate for our children with multiple life threatening food allergies…the type of food allergies that require carrying Epi-pens everywhere our kids go…the type that requires training others in charge of our kids how to recognize a reaction and how to use the life-saving auto-injectors. And we will continue to manage our children’s diets daily by reading every label before an item is used in a recipe or consumed…so that we can avoid all of the allergens that would cause a potentially fatal reaction in our precious children. Any reaction.
Thanks for sharing Cheryl, I appreciate your time to write up your thoughts for all of us!
What really broke my heart is the conflicting lessons being taught here: your school has health safety protocol in place but your own personal needs for “luxury” items is greater.
I agree, I am sad for the author and hope that the backlash someone raises her level of consciousness so she can learn empathy for others and teach community to her children.
This is a prime example of the challenges of living with an invisible disease.
Much education is needed in her child’s school if this is what parents are thinking.
It is unfortunate and apparent you either didn’t thoroughly read and/or comprehend Moilanen’s column, which was exactly that, an opinion piece, not a medical health instructional. Numerous times Moilanen states that actual medical allergies (not sensitivities) are excepted: “the true hair-raising, call 9-1-1, break-out-the-epinephrine type of allergy” and “I understand this approach won’t work for the sliver of the population prone to anaphylaxis,” but that it is shown that parents are not following up on their kids’ sensitivities that studies have proved children do grow out of. Too many of these parents are the bullies, not the compliant Moilanen, parents who decide for everyone else what others’ kids can and can’t eat. I have one of my friends being chastised for bringing coconut (among other snack alternatives) to a class party, even knowing that a coconut is not a nut in the nut allergan group (to which the child had a sensitivity, not an authentic anaphylactic condition), bringing political correctness to the ‘niggardly/bigoted word’ proportions. Interestingly, it’s the food sensitive children’s parents who are usually more dogmatic than the true allergic epi-kids’ parents: the teacher is trained with epi-pen, the parents are alerted, etc. I read Ms. Moilanen’s opinion piece as a statement posing the following question: how are these scientific statistics of allergies vs. sensitivities (which so many children outgrow) so differerent from the extremism we’re seeing in schools? And I add, is it just coicidence that so frequently these same parents of kids with sensitivities are the same parents who complain, petition, and write in on the many homework, playground, and social ‘injustices’ that prevail seemingly only with their children? I laud Moilenen for posing this non-PC query. I too wonder.
Kilakona, thank you for your well thought out comments. I think you raise valuable points.
None of us perceived the article as an opinion piece in part due the statistics sited, which are dated. The recent stats tell us 6-8% of all children have food allergies. I think this was challenge number one.
Challenge number 2: I think your interpretation is what I personally wish the author would have discussed in a clear articulate way as you have: how are these scientific statistics of allergies vs. sensitivities so different from the extremism in schools.
There is the real issue! One frustrating challenge for parents of food allergic children is just this concept–the confusion between food sensitive students, food anaphylaxtic students and parents who have made lifestyle choices or have dietary needs that are not medically based.
If a teacher or entity does not clearly outline the needs of the classroom it just creates confusion. I did not know the difference until my child was diagnosed with food allergies. I asked an adult that if I removed the walnut from the top of the wouldn’t that be okay? I had been exposed to food sensitive people, but never a food allergic person.
Communication and education is the heart of this issue. Are schools communicating and managing this clearly? Your friend being chastised was unacceptable. Here is person trying to participate in a celebration, who clearly was not provided with clear valid data. I don’t believe any parent conscious brings in food to harm a child and most parents, once they understand the true medical situation would be supportive. I agree, I have seen parents in both situations (sensitive and food allergic), not behaving nicely to well meaning volunteers. This is never okay.
Do remember, and this is not an excuse, if a food allergic parent has watched their child nearly die, they might have the tendency to react strong. I have seen parents freak out over allergens only to learn that they child almost died previously, so then I understand have compassion.
Thanks again for your thoughts and for Cheryl’s too! Having these kinds of conversation helps educate us all to bringing better awareness and understanding of an invisible disease that is growing in leaps and bounds.
I just realized that my sight design does not allow for us to see which comment someone is replying to. Therefore, Kilakona was responding to Cheryl’s posting.
Wow… I had not seen this article yet.
Great points in your post, Caroline.
She obviously did not do enough research, besides copy and paste from one or two websites. A well thought out article like this would have been better has she possibly spoken to an allergist, interviewed an allergy parent, etc etc etc…
And I’m sorry, but all allergies are important and severe – anaphylactic or not. Terribly sad she feels her sons chocolate bar is more important than the health of others and she’s teaching her own children the same.
Agreed Keeley, I wish the author spoke to professionals and then shared her frustrations-which are real. I understand her frustrations, but I truly believe that if she did her homework the article would have been much different and possibly valuable.
Thanks for sharing.
I just called the Daily Breeze and requested they pull the article.
After reading Kilalona’s response to Cheryl, I think Kilakona makes a good point that the pieces was meant to be an opinion piece, which again, I fully support. Clearly, though, non of us interpreted it as an opinion piece there lays the challenge for the Daily Breeze. The way the article was written was interpreted as a medical piece since the author was using medical stats. It will be interesting to see how the Daily Breeze responds.
Excellent job of going after the author of that silly article, Caroline, and giving voice to so many.
Henry, my life’s dream would be able to simply write one sentence in my blog that is as beautiful as what you write on your blog! So, your compliment goes a long way in my book!
This article was so awful in so many ways that it is hard to know where to begin! Everyone has made great points. For me, I can see there are a few points I might agree with, in a way, but they were not communicated well at all. I think the author was trying to say there there are a lot of parents out there who treat “intolerances” as diagnosed allergies. And I do agree. (Of course, I have a bigger problem with parents of children with diagnosed allergies who treat them like “intolerances”, but that is a whole different subject for another time!). I have also met a lot of people who have gotten questionable diagnosis because they did not see a certified allergist and after blood work were told to avoid every food under the sun. So, yes, are there problems with the diagnosis process? Yes. Are there problems with education about what is an allergy and what is an intolerance? Yes. That is the article that I would like to see factually analyzed. But this “Annoyed Mom”, Op-Ed piece that is written as medical fact, is irresponsible to the MAX!
Thanks Luann,
You’ve inspired me now! I’m going to email Dr. Jacobs and ask him to write us a blog post about the diagnosis process and the confusion with intolerance vs true allergy.
Thanks for well written comments, I think there are really important conversations taking place that I am feeling are clues as to our challenges regarding educating the public AND education within our own food allergy families.
Parents who take huge food allergy risks could absentmindedly be endangering other children as this confusions those engaging with both children.
How does one determine which parent is the correct? The one who says their child can eat the product with the may contain label vs the one who doesn’t? Human nature might nudge the overwhelmed parent trying to provide snack to take the easier route.
We have our work cut out don’t we?
I was going to write my own long, drawn out response to that article, but you said most of what I wanted to say, Luann. I am mortified that she presented what she did with her kid as the way to handle a food allergy situation, stressing that exposure = immunity. I got chills and I got afraid. My friend has a daughter who is allergic to peanuts, and every new exposure = a greater chance of her death in that each new exposure is worse and worse, not the other way around.
The precentage of kids in the woman who wrote the article’s son’s class should show her that food allergies are MORE prevelent than we realize, not less. And I honestly got angry that she was so upset that she had to disappoint her child by taking in a treat that she clearly thought was awful. How did she think the other kids felt? She fostered the very thing that we as food allergy advocates fight against the most. She believes that kids with food allergies eat nothing tasty, that we just need to “ignore” them and they will go away because it made her feel bad that her kid couldn’t have a cupcake in class. Seriously? What would’ve been so bad with approved fruit? What would’ve been so bad with figuring out a top 8 free treat recipe to take in? She got to see the nightmare that is some people’s reality and instead of sympathizing, she went the other way.
Yes, people NEED educating. They NEED to know the difference between allergy and sensitivity. But they also NEED to learn some compassion and realize that the day will go on if your kid can’t take cupcakes to school. I wish she would’ve taken the moment to explain to her child that the world does not revolve around him, that sometimes we do what is best for the whole. He lives in a world that is not perfect or ideal, and sometimes we help others and we find a way for all to enjoy.
I digress, because I know an apology was made and all that, but the damage was done. I think that allergy education needs to make it’s way into our schools and into our homes. It is too important not to.
Hi Julie, thanks for responding to Luann. She is always well written!
Even though she gave an apologize the reality sits that we are all upset and that this type of thinking is clearly common place since the Daily Breeze felt the article was good for print.
Education, education, education and a little more education is obviously needed.
I wrote a comment on the apology piece that was posted. It was a rather long response, as you can imagine. 🙂 I just am so hurt that they felt it was appropriate to print! Yes, education is definitely needed…and a whole heaping of compassion!!
Whether a true allergy/sensitivity or an intolerance the outcome is the same. The child will either react violently or they will be uncomfortable for sure (tingling in the mouth, rashes). I cannot discount tingling in the mouth or rashes as justification for giving the child food for the sake of being the same as everyone else or to make the nonallergic child feel better about the selections.
She has right to voice her opinion but not try to downplay these symptoms. Another comment mentioned the blood test versus seeing an allergist. I had food allergy tests done via both the RAST and MAST process. Later I had provocation/neutralization done on those same foods. My provocation/neutralization testing correlated with the level of allergy on the blood tests.
I have a feeling this mom is wishing she hadn’t written the article right about now. Thank you Caroline for sharing this.
Hi Kathryn, I think for all of us–including the author, we’ll walk away having good discussions and additional learning. Many allergists don’t even provide the RAST test, so the bottom line still leads us back to working with a physician who can diagnosis and help us understand our health.
I just hope the Daily Breeze was trying to create controversy.
When I initially commented I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new
comments are added- checkbox and from now on every time a comment is added
I recieve four emails with the same comment.
Is there a way you can remove me from that service?
Thanks a lot!
Thanks Kendra for the data. I’m not sure what happened but we are doing blogsite maintenance this weekend! I’m sorry for the technical failure!