Welcome to the group!
Our Beginning
I walked out of the doctor's office dumbfounded. An allergy to egg??? Egg is in everything! What am I going to feed my child? What did I do to cause this? What did the doctor say the other hidden egg words are? Lyso-something? Ovo-something? If I stop giving her egg will she outgrow her allergy or get worse? She was only a little sick...could she eventually have anaphylaxis? Too many questions, too overwhelming. Then I started reading and that was the beginning of my new life.
I finally got the courage to take my egg-allergic child to preschool. After being quite sure that the school knew everything there is to know about keeping a child safe with food allergies (cleaning tables, epinephrine, parties) I still sat in the parking lot for at least a week. When I got the courage to go home for an hour, I had to check to make sure the phone worked at least twenty times. I thought I was going crazy and so did my friends and family. At this point I knew their were other parents out there that felt like me. That is how we started in December 2004.
Does this story sound familiar? Maybe not...
Diversity
Since then, I have learned that not everybody has as much anxiety as I do, and there are people who are actually more nervous than me. There is a lot of variance in children with allergies, and how parents deal with those allergies. No matter what you believe or how you choose to cope, food allergies are tough to deal with and you will be welcomed with us.
Meetings
Our group has expanded to assist families across the entire State of Florida. We occasionally meet but 90% of our families prefer to communicate through our yahoo groups message boards. We do have playgroups and parent's night out. Click on the link below to join hundreds of families. It is completely free. We can help you with diets, finding specialty foods, coping, dealing with families, help with school entry.....all except for providing medical advice. For this we recommend you call your doctor.
Activities
- We are currently working to create safe environments for our children in the school setting.
- We are helping to promote community awareness of food allergies.
- Providing information, education, advocacy, community resources, and friendship to families of children with food allergies.
Support
Get connected with other families in the community with food allergies. Click on the link below to join. (for free!) Please note that this group is ONLY for parents of children with food allergies. Other inquiries please click on the tab above to "contact us".
Click to join FASGofTampa