A few weeks ago saw us working with Allergy UK and Sky News to help increase awareness of allergies, and the dangers faced by allergy sufferers on a day to day basis.
Callum is not alone, it’s believed that around 50% of children now suffer with an allergy. Sadly, it is not always easy to get a diagnosis.
Healthcare professionals don’t always know or understand what they are being presented with, and assume it is colic, reflux, or ‘just baby eczema’. There is no real solution provided, and the situation sadly often gets out of hand, resulting in an acute situation.
We spent months trying to get a diagnosis, with repeated trips to the GPs, to A&E and also emergency admittances, in our quest to get Callum better.
It was a harrowing, difficult, emotionally breaking time which we wouldn’t wish on anyone!
I’m not trying to have a go at the Healthcare professionals. They do a wonderful job, with the tools they have been given. For them, it’s about supporting them further, and giving them more education so they can be taught how to recognise the classic symptoms, and the not so classic ones too! It’s about making them understand what it is like to live with allergies on a daily basis, the pretty much living nightmare which is on constant loop, and the fear as a parent of not knowing what the hell is wrong with your clearly very sick child, and to provide them with a viable solution that will help their patients.
That’s why Intolerant Gourmand was set up, to help the very people who need it most, and to provide the answers to this area where there is often a very large black void of information.
When we were asked by Allergy UK if we could work with Sky News on this piece, we jumped at the chance as we knew that important and helpful information would be getting to even more people who need it.
Gemma and her lovely cameraman Mark took the time to really get to know Callum. He adored them, and was more than happy to show them his extensive stash of life saving medicines, his medi-kit, and even a bit of cooking too!
Gemma also ‘got it’! She herself has a life threatening nut allergy, so knows and understands what it is like to always be on the ball, to question everything, and to not take anything for granted!
Dr George du Toit also assisted with this piece, which is truly wonderful. Dr du Toit is one of the UK’s top Allergy Specialists, and anyone who is a patient of his is very lucky indeed. The work he and his team do is quite simply phenomenal, and I wish that his knowledge, expertise and passion to improve the allergy world could be replicated up and down the country!
Gemma has created a wonderful article, you can take a peak here, and even better, please share to help as many people as possible:
http://news.sky.com/story/1612769/nhs-must-keep-pace-with-allergy-epidemic
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