100% success rates - beat that!

I just returned from the most inspirational evening. The SAFAR Community Council (which Orr & I participate on) held an event tonight to share some of Dr. Nadeau’s research advancements, and we heard from families sharing their stories – both the challenges of parenting kids with food allergies, and the freedom that comes from being cured. We all listened, shed tears at some of the stories, and connected deeply with others who understand the weight of it all. I loved meeting people who I’ve only known through emails, who told me they read this little ‘ol blog, share it with others, and feel like they know Ari and Aviv from these stories.  I'm so touched. Your stories inspire me, too. Congratulations to John, whose daughter is about to graduate from the peanut non-Xolair trial after two years – such a long road and a huge accomplishment! Also to Bernie, whose daughter, after 3 years of waiting, is #37 of 40 slots that have just been opened up for a new multi-allergen non-Xolair trial, thanks to a grant of funding that SAFAR has just received. Dr. Nadeau told us there are 800 families on the wait list to get in to one of her trials… if you are among them, hang in there. SAFAR is the only food allergy research center west of the Mississippi, and the only one in the world doing multi-allergen studies. 100% of the children who have finished Dr. Nadeau’s studies are cured. 100%. If you haven’t yet given to support Dr. Nadeau’s amazing work, and you are able to, please consider giving: https://www.supportlpch.org/SAFAR . Lisa, a teenager who graduated from one of Dr. Nadeau's earlier trials, shared her experience tonight as well, and talked of the treatment as being “possibly life saving; positively life changing.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

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For those of you who were concerned about how we’re doing, we’re good. A friend gave me a book yesterday: Don’t sweat the small stuff for Moms – it’s a must for busy moms (and which moms aren’t?) who want highly concentrated humor and life lessons all rolled up into short vignettes. I loved the authenticity of the first vignette where the mom tells her child, after a not-so-pleasant incident, “I’m not ok, you’re not ok, but it’s going to be ok.” It is definitely going to be ok. (“Y’hi’yeh beseder”, for the Hebrew speakers out there.) We’re tinkering with and figuring out the doses, getting nutritionist referrals, and the entire SAFAR team gave me a hug tonight and affirmed for me that this is hard, that we’re all in this together, and that we will get through it. I trust them implicitly and look forward to moving forward and blazing some trails to make this easier for our kids and the ones that follow them. “Possibly life saving; positively life changing”… we’re all in.