Kristin Hvizda's infant daughter turned bright red, couldn't stop scratching her ears and getting sick after eating some yogurt.
Anaphylaxis, the indication of a food allergy, can be a frightening experience for any parent. It's usually not until a severe reaction like this one that most diagnoses are made. Parents that would otherwise be prepared are catapulted into an emergency situation without the right life-saving knowledge.
4th annual NWA FARE Walk for Food Allergy
When: Sept. 12
Where: The Gardens at University of Arkansas
Cost: Free. Register online as a team to fundraise while walking the event.
Information: http://foodallergyw… "> foodallergywalk.org…
"From a mom's perspective, people seem to think we're overreacting," Hvizda says. "We're not helicopter moms. We're dealing with the reality that something like a cookie could kill our children."
Food allergies should be taken as seriously as any other condition, she says. That's why Hvizda is sponsorship chairwoman for FARE, the 4th Annual NWA Food Allergy Walk. The Sept. 12 event is free and open to the public, in the hopes that more people will learn the gravity of food allergies and work to be inclusive of people who have them.
Following that initial doctor's visit, Hvizda found much of what she needed to know from FARE, Food Allergy Research and Education, a nonprofit organization designed to improve quality of life for people with food allergies.
"From the beginning, I've come to rely on them," Hvizda says. "They're the biggest food allergy and education resource center around, not just for people and families, but for schools, hospitals and restaurants."
The FARE website provides monthly webinars using industry experts to discuss the latest developments on topics, such as caring for children with food allergies, and provides printable posters and information packets for parents to take to schools.
"The educational resources they have are so easy and understandable for people without allergies," Hvizda says. "These are great tools to help our kids who don't have allergies help keep our kids safe."
Hvizda regularly meets with teachers and directors to ensure all children with allergies are getting their needs met and found that being able to talk about it openly is an added benefit.
"A lot of time, having a food allergy feels like a secret," she says. "Our friends know, but we don't go around talking about it all the time. I wouldn't want my kids to be uncomfortable or other people to be uncomfortable."
Having an appropriate time and place to talk about it makes her feel as if she's not in this alone -- that her children's preschool workers and their family's friends understand better what they're going through.
An average week for Hvizda's family includes a lot of preparation time. They make all of their meals at home and trips to the grocery store mean scouring labels for hazardous ingredients. With so many processed foods out there, it's difficult to tell what's really in there. Even if an item doesn't have peanuts in it, it might have been cooked in peanut oil or made in a factory that uses peanut oil for other things -- and therefore just as dangerous.
"You don't realize how much culture is about food until you get [diagnosed] with a food allergy," Hvizda says. "It's not just breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, it's parties, events, vacations. We definitely had to change our lifestyle."
On the rare occasion that they visit a restaurant, it's "a huge conversation and research time." Vacations are chosen carefully, with hotel accommodations that have kitchens, and joining a party means bringing their own food.
It's not just fastidious. It can be isolating.
"Some exclude people with food allergies," Hvizda says. "It's an inconvenience, a liability or a burden."
Many schools group children with allergies together at lunchtime to ensure they don't have any of the wrong foods mixed in. It's more convenient for the school staff, but can be difficult for children. They don't get to sit with their friends and may feel singled out.
Slowly, because of parents like Hvizda and groups like FARE, those rules and policies are changing.
"There's so much more awareness than 10 years ago," she says. "Schools are catching up and we're in a better place. Not every child [with a food allergy] is sitting alone, at a table by themselves. Now they have a ton of kids at that table."
Roughly 1 in every 13 children--or two per classroom--have a food allergy. And certain schools allow them to bring a friend of their choice to the allergy lunch table. It's not perfect, Hvizda says, but it's improving.
Until then, Hvizda plans to keep her head down, encouraging change through FARE and providing snacks for whole classes at a time just so her children and other kids with allergies will feel included.
"I would do whatever it takes for a kid to not feel left out or ostracized for something they can't control," Hvizda says. "Anytime there's a celebration or I'll pay for snacks for an entire year so my kid can have the same.
"Let's keep everybody safe and involved."
NAN Profiles on 08/23/2015