The other day I got a call from my son’s daycare that Freaked. Me. Out!

I was asked to bring all my son’s clothes home to be washed as there had been a severe allergy scare that had the whole community up in arms. One of OLM’s classmates has a severe nut allergy as unbeknownst to the rest of us, one of the other kids had brought a peanut butter sandwich in his lunch. When it was discovered it practically shut the whole place down.

The entire cubby area was immediately scrubbed and all the kid’s clothes were individually bagged to avoid the spread of any allergens. Thankfully his classmate was saved from a trip to the emergency as the sandwich was spotted right away and immediate action was taken to protect the child.

It’s got me thinking how important it is that our son understand how severe food allergies can affect his friends and it should never be taken lightly. Our son is pretty healthy, thankfully. He has mild to moderate digestive issues (another lovely trait he can thank me for later) and reacts sometimes to citrus fruits and strawberries, but it’s nothing compared to the frightening reality of living with life threatening allergies.
And even though he is only four years old, I think he understands to some degree that some people can’t have certain foods because their bodies just don’t like them.

In light of what has happened we are going to attend an event at VanDusen Botanical Gardens for a fun, and informative session on how to safely manage food allergies.

And we get to meet Alex Tagliani NASCAR driver *swoon* who deals with food allergies in his own life and as a new father. There will also be a local Pediatric Allergist, Dr. Chan discussing the latest in allergy research and will be uncovering the myths and truths about anaphylaxis to promote allergy awareness.

Please join us!

UPDATE!

Starting today, kids under the age of 18 can enter the Allergy Hero Contest by telling us who their Allergy Hero is and what he/she has done to help manage your allergies! It’s easy to enter-just go to www.summeroftag.com starting today May 1st until August 31st. An IPad is up for grabs AND Alex Tagliani will visit their daycare or school! AND your Allergy Hero will win a $500 gift card!

Summer of TAG Vancouver Education Tour

When: May 7th 10am-11.15am

Where: VanDusen Botanical Garden, 5251 Oak Street in Vancouver (If you are in Edmonton, check out the graphic below)

**Free Parking and children are welcome!

Please RSVP by May 4th to reserve your spot

Contact: [email protected]

For more information visit their website, follow them on Facebook or Twitter @AnaphylaxisCAN.