As we go through life it is often that we experience hills and valleys. Fortunately for most of us we have the opportunity to reach out to others relatively close to us for support when the valleys appear.
What happens to your ability to gain support for a disorder that most have no familiarity with? How do you deal with a diagnosis such as life threatening food allergies when you've never met anyone who has had them before or even heard of them?
10 years ago my journey through the food allergic world began with a sweet little girl who was about 13 months old. After a year of nursing her which was riddled with doctors and hospital visits, I found out she suffered from a 10 food allergies.Having no real knowledge of how to deal with this as I'd only suffered from one which was realatively easy to stay away from. I was devastated.
The years to follow would be filled with dark days and even darker nights as people cringed when asked to even babysit this child with airborne, contact and ingestible allergies to food. Navigating the health world while trying to keep her within her weight range and nutritionally balanced took a toll.
Once I allowed my faith to step in and change my mindset, the problem itself didn't go away, but the anxiety and feeling of helplessness did. The life lesson in this was that we must empower ourselves in such a way that we truly own the statement "we can do whatever we have to do when faced with adversity." The choices we make on how we deal with things can ultimately be the catalyst for us to overcome our own fears and help others who are faced with the same challenges.
There is no greater time then now to harness your own mind power in the way that only humans can. You will understand the power of doing amazing things once you allow yourself to control your own mind!
Aleasa Word, the owner of Allergy Words Consulting, LLC started her career working in critical Investment Support Administration Services over 20 years ago. Her career has spanned the areas of brokerage, high net worth & international portfolio management, proxy administration, trust investments and investment compliance & regulatory oversight. She obtained her Webmaster Certification at the University of Delaware, has a Diploma for Trust, Relationship and Investment Management through the American Bankers Association, is a certified Protect Allergic Children Consultant and is completing her BS in Organizational Dynamics at Wilmington University.
Ms. Word has had a long term interest in volunteerism. In the early 90’s she volunteered with Child Inc’s Welcome Baby Program. She provided assistance and support to mothers of newborns in the first six months of life in an effort to reduce the infant mortality rate. In 2005 Ms. Word served as Vice President of the founding board of Family Foundations Academy Charter School . She has served as Lactation Coordinator for her employer’s nursing mother’s program for six years and is a wellness committee member. Her most passionate causes include domestic violence prevention and food allergic & asthmatic awareness and advocacy. She began formally advocating for food allergic children through volunteer work with the Food Allergy Support Team of Delaware (F.A.S.T.) in 2007 where she served as co-chair. She is a Certified Food Allergy Education Consultant with the Protect Allergic Children Program a division of The ELL Foundation of Illinois as well as a member of their Advisory Board. Her affiliations also include a seat on the Adult Advisory Committee for the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Networkn(FAAN) along with a dual role as Chair of FAAN's Delaware Walk for Food Allergy, one of over 40 nationwide walks to raise awareness and fund research. In this capacity, she spearheaded the effort to have a proclamation issued by Governor Jack Markell, declaring Food Allergy Awareness week for the first time in Delaware's History in 2010. To add a layer of additional support on the local level, Ms. Word founded FAMSOD, the Food Allergic Multi-Cultural Society of Delaware in May of 2010. FAMSOD offers education, outreach, advocacy and social networking to the food allergic and asthmatic communities through cultural inclusion. As well as her accomplishments in the food allergic community, Ms. Word has been a strong supporter of teens & music for creative expression and behavioral re-direction. She has managed local singing groups for many years and served on the committee for AIDS Delaware's, Delaware Teen Idol Competitions since 2008 as Artist Development Director. From 2002-2003 Ms. Word also served as a talk show host for a program entitled 302 Pushing Gospel to the Edge which was directed at providing health, education and personal growth information to teens and young adults. Other partnerships include committee memberships with Healthy Kids Delaware, Delaware Domestic Violence Coalition, DE Family Support Initiative & AAUW. She also volunteers for the Delaware Emergency Medical Corp.