By Frank Risper
As a child growing up with eight siblings, one word that I can’t remember ever hearing was the word “allergy”. No one in my family had a problem with allergies. In fact, I don’t think I knew anyone with allergies when I was growing up.
I now know that allergies are a common problem that most people share. All three of my children have allergies, but my daughter has very serious reactions to certain common foods, dust mites, ragweed and pollen.
She’s also very sensitive to the sun.
She now has to take allergy shots once a week to help keep her allergies under control. She still struggles with the symptoms, which include hives, sneezing, coughing, itching throat and a runny nose.
The road that we had to travel to figure out what was wrong with her was very uncomfortable for me. Since I was unaware of the symptoms of having allergies, I couldn’t understand why she would break out with bumps all over her body.
My wife has been taking our daughter to the doctor for years and just in the past year we found out what the problem was. We only made that discovery after our regular doctor couldn’t see my daughter and she had another doctor.
I now have a much greater understanding of what people with allergies have to go through. I have coworkers who, because of the seriousness of their allergies, have to take off work when they have serious flare-ups.
I learned from the experience that my daughter is a very strong willed person. To have to deal with uncomfortable allergies and shots at seven years old shows me that she has volumes of courage.
According to kidshealth.org/parent/medical/allergies, there are up to 50 million Americans, including millions of children, have the some type of allergy. In fact, allergies account for the loss of an estimated 2 million school days per year.
Did you know that 1.5 million people in the United States alone are allergic to peanut products?
My daughter is one of them, but she hasn’t missed any school because of her numerous allergies. She has the courage of a lion.
Yet in all, I thank God for the health of my family and me. If you don’t have any allergies, you should be thanking God and if you know someone who does have allergies show them compassion when they are suffering.
Remember to keep the faith, trust in God only and seek a pure heart. God will be pleased.
