An Insight To The Life Of Cooper

Our son is four years old, and his name is Cooper Giron. He is severely allergic to any and all nuts and oranges and is very asthmatic. When and if Cooper eats, touches or is surrounded by anything that may contain these ingredients, including lotions, soils, bean bags, bird food etc. his body will go into anaphylactic shock.

Anaphylactic will kill, and could happen in 20 minutes or less, or cause permanent brain damage to our son, if not treated in time. He experienced anaphylactic shock in June 2008, and almost passed away. He was hospitalized at Sierra Vista Hospital in SLO, for three days. Each time a child experiences anaphylactic shock, it increases their chances of death if it were to happen again.

Coopers allergist, of the Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara, informed us that Cooper has the highest nut allergy he has ever seen in a child, and informed us that our sons life could be at risk if he goes to public school, due to the fact of all the food that is on a school campus, and oils left behind on tables, text books, pencils and so on from the foods that he is allergic to.

The only way our son would be able to go to school every day, and reduce his risk of death, would be with a Service Dog. The Service Dogs are specially trained to detect minute traces of tree nuts, peanuts and oranges and alert Cooper if he is in danger. You can check out these amazing Service Dogs at http://www.angelservicedogs.com/

The service dogs cost around $10,000. John and I are not able to afford this, and fear that if we do not raise the money, Cooper will not be able to experience going to school, like most other children. There is a lot that our son is not able to do, like go to a baseball game, trick-or-treat with out fear, or enjoy simple parties like birthdays or holidays if away from home, the last thing we want is for him not to have the experience of going to school.

If you would like to learn more about this allergy you can visit www.foodallergy.org