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Features
Dec/Jan 2013 Issue
Table of Contents
Food Allergy Bullying
Positive Signs
Eleanor Garrow didn’t stick around Virginia. After Thomas’ bullying in second grade and depression aftermath in the beginning of third grade, Garrow and her two children moved back to Illinois, where she grew up and where her family lives. Divorced, she realized that Thomas needed his father during this unsettling time. She asked to be able to work for FAAN remotely from Illinois.
Now in fourth grade at his new school, Thomas is doing well, his mother reports. The new school has gone above and beyond in accommodating him, she says. Everyone who comes into contact with Thomas throughout the school day, including his bus driver, has been trained to administer epinephrine. His grades have come back up. He’d been getting Cs and Ds but now is back to As and Bs.
Thomas is no longer ashamed to say he has food allergies. He always carries his life-saving medications—epinephrine auto injectors, antihistamines and his asthma inhaler—in his backpack. At his new school, kids kept asking him why he carries his backpack everywhere. So he asked his mom to do a presentation about food allergies, not just to his class but to the whole school. Garrow is thrilled that he’s no longer embarrassed and anxious about his food allergies.
“I’m hopeful and optimistic,” she says. “We still have a long way to go but I’ve definitely seen improvement. There’s still some anger but it’s nowhere near as bad as it was when we were in Virginia.”
“For almost a year and a half, he was not the son I knew, the boy who was so full of life, laughing, giggling, eyes sparkling all the time, compassionate and caring about everyone around him. We really lost him. And it was hard, so hard,” Garrow says. “Now we’re finally getting him back—and I’m so grateful.”
Comments (4)
I feel for this kid. I am allergic to tree nuts and peanuts, and faced similar (although less serious) teasing when I was in grade school. The father of one of my friends commented `She's the one who could die if she ate a peanut butter sandwich'. (Yes, this is true. Fortunately I had enough sense never to attempt to eat a peanut butter sandwich!) Things are much better now than forty years ago when I was in school -- now schools appear to have a nut-free policy.
Posted by: clare | December 7, 2012 6:51 PM Report this comment
I feel this lady's pain. My now 14 year old daughter was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic when she was 10 and just starting fifth grade. She went from a straight A student to a shivering wreck of a child who technically failed fifth grade because of the bullying she received all year from her TEACHERS! I went to the school administration twice, had nuclear meltdowns in the hallways more times than I can count and finally consulted two lawyers and wrote a letter to the school superintendent outlining the federal court case her school district was facing. The school principal and I finally sat down and worked out how sixth grade was going to go, but my daughter still struggles with the results of adults not caring for her welfare and safety and she is in high school now. She was also diagnosed as celiac sprue when she was twelve so she has a double whammy to deal with. I have to be very direct and uncompromising with every school administration every year about my daughter's medical care plan and her 504 plan. I will never forgive the two women who abused my daughter's trust and health and I don't allow any school official any leeway at this point. It's an awful feeling to have to literally fight for everything that my daughter has a right to because of the ignorance and incompetence in our schools.
Posted by: JDTilton | November 20, 2012 8:35 PM Report this comment
You can't count on Public Schools to take care of your child or his special needs. I would have pulled him out of that school so fast their heads would spin. Private school or home school are your only hope to keep him safe.
Posted by: Unknown | November 20, 2012 1:17 PM Report this comment
I can't begin to tell you how upset and then angry I got reading about what happened to this child in school. It is beyond infuriating to hear and see examples of how supposed carefully planned and good intentioned school districts either look the other way or assume its not as bad as it actually is when we as parents--and health professionals--know otherwise. I am very happy to hear that your son is doing well in his new school.
Posted by: ROBERTA T | November 20, 2012 1:04 PM Report this comment