Zander just completed his 5th TIP Visit out of 24 Visits and coming close to our one-year mark with being in the program! Here is the most recent update…

Food Challenge (Day 1):

Donkey’s milk 90 ml and Pumpkin seeds were challenged today. He passed both!!! This means he will have to move donkey’s milk over to his daily maintenance (drinks 90ml every day for next 10 weeks). Pumpkin seeds are now uncapped, which means he can eat as many as he wants! Just in time to enjoy some roasted pumpkin seeds for fall 🎃 

Our trips are always two days, so there is a little downtime where we can try to find something fun to do to get his mind off of his second day. The second day is usually when he has to try new foods. This trip he had his first anaphylactic food to be introduced to. Both of us were a little nervous going into it, but we always say a prayer 🙏🏻 and that seems to calm the nerves.

Food Challenge (Day 2):

Clarified Butter (aka Ghee) & Buckwheat are both on his anaphylactic allergen level…He passed both today! These two are now his daily dosing foods, with buckwheat being in a gummy form for 8 weeks and then he has to consume buckwheat flour last two weeks before his next visit.

It was a successful visit! We will be back to Long Beach clinic beginning of December. As always, thank you family and friends for your support and prayers! We can’t do this without you! As they say… “It takes a village”💚

🇺🇸 Happy 4th it was, as Zman continues to work towards Food Freedom! 💥 

This TIP Trip our family of 4 went and stayed a little longer to celebrate the 4th of July with family and friends. Zman always enjoys the TIP trips when we can make it into a “vacation” rather than the entire focus on his clinic appointments. Since it is summer, we took full advantage of this time to be together and make it fun for him.

This time he challenged Mare’s milk and poppyseeds and was introduced to pumpkin seeds and donkey’s milk! He still votes on Camel’s milk being “the worst” of all the milks he has tried.  

Day 1 & 2 of his appointments went smooth. It wasn’t until after we headed back to our vacation rental that we noticed a farmers market that we were walking through and enjoying the yummy smells…little did we know, those smells ended up causing Z the to have a reaction!! First he had a nagging cough, then he started to get a wheeze (all of this happened within 5 minutes of returning to our room). He then asked for his inhaler. Of course it was nearing bedtime…all of us nervous and wondering what was causing reaction. Was it delayed from his appointment? Nope! Dad went down to farmers market to investigate and found that they were roasting nuts!! Three of which were his top anaphylactic allergies!  

Thank goodness everything turned out ok, but to think that inhaling something could cause such a reaction is frightening and really assures us that Z is where he needs to be, doing this program for an important reason: the safety of his life!!  

Zman’s Highlights

☀️🌊🏖️Beach time& learning to boogie board 

🐦 Meeting our “Family”@Noble Bird

🇺🇸4th of July Parade & 💥 fireworks 

🐪 Being told I am done with camel’s milk for awhile

✈️ Getting to sit in cockpit of plane

Food Challenge (Day 1):

Camel’s milk 20 ml and Chia seeds were challenged today, as well as oats. We know he is not allergic to oats and eats them weekly, but his blood work and scratch showed otherwise, so he had to prove he was not allergic by doing an outright challenge.  He passed everything!!!

♥️Little Brother and Dad joined us on this trip!!!  They got to see everything Z does.

Breathing Test (Day 1):

Since Z has asthma, they monitor him closely through breathing tests every so often. Today he did a test and all his numbers looked good.

New Foods Challenge (Day 2):

Today Z was introduced to Mare’s milk and poppy seeds.  Since he passed these, they now become apart of his daily dosing which he does every day after school.  His Camel’s milk and chia seeds he passes yesterday become his “maintenance foods” which he has every morning before school.

🤔Why does he have to add these unusual milks to his diet? 

This program is all about dosing small amounts of similar proteins to get your body to tolerate them so you are able to ingest your anaphylactic allergens.  Since Z is highly anaphylactic to cows milk (dairy), we are working our way through similar proteins to get there.

🤨What other milks does he have to dose before dairy? After camel and mare, he will have donkey milk, sheep yogurt, and goat milk.  We have been told donkey milk is only able to be sourced through Italy, and is VERY expensive (one mom told us she spent $700 to get her shipment).  This is one of the reasons we have our Give Send Go page…it takes a Village and all the help we can from family and friends!  We can’t do this without you!

Zman’s TIP Trip Highlights…

✈️ “Little Bro got to see for the first time what I do and where we stay and take his first cab ride.”

🎬🎥🍿Since we had the whole family along this time, we came a day early and went to Universal Studios.  🌧️“It was fun that it rained all day and made the lines shorter.”

🚲”I liked having D with me for the exercises at my appointments.”

🐦 “Taking Dad to try Noble Bird” (Our favorite allergy-friendly restaurant)

Since Zander passed Camel’s milk, ALL DONATIONS YOU MAKE, you will receive a camel charm you can add to your keychain!  Please send us a message to let us know where to send your charm!♥️

All donations, are appreciated 🙏🏻 no amount is too small!  Our cab 🚕 rides coast $10-$18 to and from the clinic.  Finding special foods for Z while we are there adds up!  Hotel, airfare, and specialized foods he is having to dose through the program are not covered by our insurance.  

We normally do not have time for “entertainment”…this trip was a one-time special occasion with Dad and brother joining us to show their support for Zman.

Introducing…Lucky Charm Chains!!

This week only $23 donation towards Zander’s Campaign will get you his “Lucky Charms” keychain and 3 starter charms!

It is Zander’s Birthday 🎂 this week on the 23rd, so all this week you can get your Keychain!  Your donation will help us tremendously with the costs that our insurance does not cover.  We will be traveling every 10 weeks for the next 4-5 years for his appointments, and these expenses certainly add up fast!

🍀What is the Lucky Charm Keychain?

Cleverly named by Zander, this is our way to say thanks and also to help as a reminder to everyone when they see their keychain and charms to pray 🙏🏻 and remember not only Zander, but other people out there who are challenged with food allergies.

Zander is currently working towards “Food Freedom,” which is ultimately remission from his 17+ anaphylactic foods he has avoided since he was 2 months old!

Each food challenge he passes, we will introduce a new charm to add to your keychain!  (No worries if you are out of state…we will ship your keychain and charms to you at no extra cost).

!!Please share our campaign!!

Please spread the word…share Zander’s story and our campaign with family, friends, your plumber, your hairdresser, your neighbors!  By doing this, you not only help Zander, but it also spreads awareness and helps other “allergy families” connect and learn more about this new program to put food allergies into remission!

We made it to our appointment through a flight delay and the big storm in California!

It’s Official…Z got his dosing gummies today!

“Dosing”means he takes the food every day for next 10 weeks, until we return to the clinic, training his body to be tolerant for his next food challenge of the actual food.  He also has his daily Maintenance Foods to eat. “Maintenance” are foods he has already challenged and passed in the clinic and has to continue to keep in his daily diet to continue training his body to know that these foods are “safe.”

After today’s food challenge appointment he is now…

Dosing: Chia seed(in a gummy) & Camel’s Milk

Maintenance: Millet, Coconut, Quinoa 

👉🏻Also in his daily diet he HAS to eat an apple, a pear, a stone fruit, and mustard seed. He also does SLIT (treatment for environmental allergies) daily with his Xyzal and other vitamins. You should see his plate in the mornings!!! Breakfast is no longer “quick”

Mom’s lesson in denatured camel’s milk…

That’s right…Camel’s milk!!! I learned today how I need to prepare camels milk for Z’s dosing.  We came home with powdered camels milk ($$) that I will prep with boiling water and a whole step-by-step process.  I got stopped of course by TSA on flight home!!! I guess powdered Camel’s milk in your bag might look a little suspicious. 🤣

Zman’s TIP Trip Highlights…

(In his words..)

🌧️ Rain storm in Long Beach, and running to our 🚕 cab in the rain ☔️ 

🐪 Trying Camel’s milk “Tastes like grass and is gross”

💚Tried first dosing gummy (chia) and got to take home all of the dosing gummies for next 10 weeks

😊”Quinoa was good”

💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟

Thank you all for your continued prayers 🙏🏻 

and supporting Zman’s journey by spreading the word to your family and friends. Through this site we have referred a new family to the TIP program, so keep sharing this campaign with others! We want nothing more than for other kids like Z to have this experience and opportunity to put their allergies in remission!!

💟If you select “follow” on this campaign, whenever I update after every appointment, you can follow along and see what he is challenging and adding to his diet.

Launch Appointment was a two day visit.  Launch Day 1: They placed a patch with 52 antigens on his back that stays on for 24 hours.  He then did a Pulmonary Test to check his lungs and breathing.  

Launch Day 2: Z did so great today! He got his patch taken off first and then he had his first food challenge: millet 🌾 They mixed it with dairy-feee chocolate. Next it was time for exercise. They take vitals after this and moved onto his next food: coconut. He loved the taste of coconut 🥥. Again, back to exercising for several minutes, followed by vitals check. Congratulations Z on passing your first two challenges! Now he has to eat coconut and millet every day until our next visit. Mom will need to get creative so he doesn’t get sick of his maintenance foods.

First visit down…24 to go (54 months)!!

Z’s doctor is very good with him. She helps calm his nerves.

We brought Nana along, which was so nice to have her there for support and encouragement!  💜

Z’s highlights:

🐳Aquarium of the Pacific

🚕 Interesting Taxi rides

🐦 Noble Bird Restaurant- trying Brussels sprouts for first time and LOVED them!

🍔 In and Out Burger

🏨 The Cove Hotel

✈️ Getting used to flying-writes a prayer before every flight to try to calm his nerves

🍽️ Passing his food challenges!

And so it begins…

It was a full day…flying from PHX to Long Beach, CA for Z’s first in-person appointment and then heading back home the same day!

We finally made it! It was a very long, emotional and exhausting day, but so much to be thankful for!  Zander had scratch test (5 panels, 49 foods) on his back…it was uncomfortable for him.  Seafood and beans had surprisingly the low numbers, which is good. However, we have to wait to compare to his bloodwork and patch testing results.  His other foods we knew he already has allergies to (dairy, seeds, nuts, wheat, etc.) still showed a reaction to (large hives). Again, we will have to wait on the full report.

Zander ended his appointment with his blood draw, which he was dreading.  He said the nurse who drew his blood “She was the best I have ever had draw my blood.  She is good at her job.”

When asked what his favorite part of the day was, he said “Walking to In and Out for lunch!”  Haha!

Our flights, cab rides and finding our way around Long Beach was a positive experience and a first of many to come.

Zander wants to thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!

WHAT’S NEXT?

The “Launch Visit” is scheduled for first week of January.  During this 2 day appointment visit, Zander will have patch testing done, pulmonary function testing and his first food challenge.  We will leave this visit with his dosing (medication).  The dosing is in the form of gummies he will take every day.

Please share Zman’s campaign with your family and friends! We are just beginning our journey and need your help.  Lots of prayers needed! Copy link and share. Also, please follow and share his Instagram account, @foodfree4z for updates.