Project Description

The Event that Changed My Life Forever By Andrea Garza

When I was diagnosed with food allergies as a 7th grader, my whole life changed within minutes. The list of allergies included wheat, gluten, milk, eggs, corn, soy, peanuts, shellfish...and the list goes on. Discovering that all of my favorite foods would be removed from my diet left me saddened, especially after experiencing the troubles of the previous year when my younger sister had an allergy list similar to mine.

After hearing the list read to me, each word leaving a greater and greater dent in my life, I remained fixated on the benefits of removing my body’s enemies from my diet. I decided to make the situation helpful, and rather than feeling depressed, I looked on the positive side of the situation.

The months ahead were filled with stress; trying to read about food allergies, adapt my diet into school life, and trying to find foods that I was able to eat.

Rather than feel sorry for myself, I decided to make a food allergy website to help others that were going through the same problems as myself and family. I began to enter information that my mother and I learned about food allergies onto the site, as well as the personal tips that we have discovered.

To this day, I continue to add information to FoodAllergyTalk.com, and have spent more than 600 hours answering the personal questions of others that are new to the world of food allergies. My entire life can be summarized into one event that has changed my life for the better. Through this wonderful opportunity in my life, I have decided to rise up against the perceived troubles of having allergies, and began an interactive site serving the needs of those all around the globe suffering from the stress of being diagnosed with food allergies.

As a more interactive approach to the website, I planned a Writing Contest for children with food allergies. Four winners were selected to receive a certificate, as well as a music CD donated by Kyle Dine (a well known allergy music artist). The children were ecstatic to win such a great contest, and anticipated the arrival of their prize! One of the children was having a bad day at school, and emailed me to say how the contest “was like a bright light after a dark and gloomy day.” These simple words made my day, and constantly pushes me toward expanding the audience of my website.

FoodAllergyTalk.com receives many thanks for the “contribution that [it has] made to the Food Allergy Community.” FoodAllergyTalk.com has received more than 33,000+ page views since its birth three years ago. I have lead the way toward unveiling the initial stress caused by the diagnosis of allergies: people come to the site to find answers fast, and to know that there are others that have gone through the same things. Many are overwhelmed by their new diet that they must fulfill and often feel alone. FoodAllergyTalk.com is a gathering sanctuary for those with food allergies. There is no reason to feel alone; the allergy community is here for one-another.

The indescribable feeling of helping others through my experiences has enabled me to realize my future career as a Naturopathic Doctor. I realized that there is nothing more fulfilling than helping others-and what better way than to naturally heal the lives of others.