Ask About My Peanut Allergy

Bo is doing great with his daily peanut allergy desensitization treatment that was started in July 2007 at Arkansas Childrens Hospital (though it turned out he was actually receiving placebo treatment the first year).

As you will see in this KTHV 11 Little Rock news segment video entitled "Helping your child cope with food allergies", Bo still eats 34 peanut butter M&Ms every day for his peanut allergy maintenance treatment as is doing very well! (Note: First time visitors to Bo's blog can get a summary of Bo's peanut allergy study by reading our June 27, 2010 update post).

Because of the success of significantly desensitizing Bo to peanuts, our life has returned to a near normal (meaning pre-peanut allergy diagnosis) lifestyle. For example:

• Bo is able to eat out in many more restaurants (though we obviously avoid menu items with peanuts in the ingredients)
• Bo is able to eat cake & ice cream at most parties now... "just like the regular kids" (amazing how much this means to him)
• Bo recently took his first trip out of the country to the fabulous Rosewood Mayakoba resort near Cancun Mexico where he experienced many firsts, including snorkeling, riding horses on the beach, swimming in cenotes and exploring caves. They did a fabulous job of accommodating his food allergy with all the food preparation (restaurants, poolside, even room service). Having a mom that's a travel agent certainly has it's perks!
• We can all relax and  enjoy sporting events where they serve peanuts (even if the people near us are eating peanuts)
• It's easier to feel good about Bo spending the night out or being in the care of a babysitter

The next phase of Bo's food allergy treatment will be to stop eating daily doses of peanut protein (peanut butter M&Ms) for 30 days and then see if his body maintains the same desensitization levels to peanuts. We are getting closer to the start of that phase and appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers for Bo's success so that other food allergy sufferers will benefit soon from this promising food allergy desensitization research and treatment programs.

P.S. Many of our readers have emailed asking why it' has been a year since our last post to Bo's blog. The short answer is we didn't have a lot of new news to share over past few months as Bo is now in the maintenance phase of his peanut allergy treatment study and we want to stay true to the original goal of Bo's blog which remains to share important moments of his journey through the peanut allergy study (vs. a day to day life recap blog) and to share the hope this research promises for all those living and coping with life threatening food allergies.

God bless!

Sincerely,

Bo's parents and Bo