When Hope Was Fading: A New Door Opens for Theo’s Food Freedom

When our children are diagnosed with food allergies, we are told many things by different doctors, and all the advice seems to contradict one another.

One doctor says it can’t be food allergies and refuses to run tests. The next doctor tests for over 30 foods and informs me he is highly allergic to some and mildly allergic to others. Then, another doctor recommends ignoring the original tests, saying they are likely false positives, and advises us to do skin tests and food challenges.

We saw great success from the skin tests and food challenges, which added some foods to Theo’s safe list—including milk, which was a big one!

At that point, the only option we had was strict avoidance of his allergens and hoping he would “grow out of them.” We were told the chances were slim, but we had nothing else to go on, so we just prayed and hoped that during our checkups, we’d miraculously be one of the lucky ones.

Through all my reading on food allergies and talking with other moms, I found something new that none of the doctors here mentioned—a treatment center in California. My first thoughts were skeptical. Why wasn’t anyone talking about this if there was an option to cure food allergies? After doing some deep digging, we were really interested, but we also realized it would be very expensive and overwhelming, especially with Theo being so young. We couldn’t pursue it at that time, so we decided to continue hoping and praying, and we’d revisit the idea when he was older.

This summer, we went for our 6-month checkup with our allergist. I went in with hope, but the skin test revealed that Theo was not growing out of his allergies. Instead of coming every six months, we were told we could now come once a year, as things likely wouldn’t change much. We knew the chances were slim for him, but I held onto that small chance with a big part of my heart.

After that appointment, my mind kept going back to the treatment center in California. I had been connected with other moms going through the treatment and watching their results. Although I knew we weren’t in a place financially to start, I couldn’t help but wonder if we could somehow make it work.

At this point, our biggest hurdles were going to be the travel and the cost. To get a better idea of how much we’d need to save, I set up a consultation call with the center to discuss all the details of traveling and look into whether our insurance would cover anything for us.

I talked to other moms, wrote down my questions, looked at our finances, filled out some forms, and sent off our insurance information. I was ready for the phone call. After a 30-minute call, I was informed that our insurance was going to cover way more than we originally thought. So much more than we anticipated that we realized we COULD do this. Yes, it would still be expensive, and there would be a lot of travel expenses ahead, but this was now an actual option for us, not just a distant dream.

That’s when we made the decision to officially enroll Theodore at The Food Allergy Institute in California. This was a huge step for us, and we are so excited about it!

The goal of this treatment center is to get children to Food Freedom, meaning they can eat their food allergens without worrying about anaphylactic reactions. The process is highly customized to each individual child, and the treatment plan will take many years. It will be full of hard work for us as a family, but if, in the end, Theodore can live a “normal” life without fear of food, it will all be 100% worth it.

We have been counting down the days since August when we enrolled, and now just 1 week from today, we fly out to California for our very first appointment at FAI. This will be a short visit for them to gather all the information. We will be doing skin tests and drawing blood for detailed testing to help them create Theodore’s customized treatment plan.

I am nervous and excited all at the same time, while Theodore is just excited to ride on the airplane! We are so lucky and thankful to have family close by in California who will be there to support us and help us navigate our travels. Truly, a blessing that this is an option for us ❤️

If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer what I can in the comments or feel free to reach out on Instagram or Facebook!