Special Report: Kids with food allergies

BAKERSFIELD, CA. - Allergies are becoming more common, specifically food allergies, and sometimes, the reactions can be life threatening.

Some local kids have such serious reactions and their parents are afraid to send their kids to school. 

According to the National Food Allergy and Education Center, about seven percent of American kids have food allergies. And, every three minutes, a reaction sends someone to the hospital.

Local families say they're doing what they can to prevent a life-threatening reaction.

Bradley Morris, 7, is allergic to a long list of foods. His allergies are so severe that his mom carries an EpiPen with her at all times.

"He'll break out in hives. He'll start to swell in his face. His eyes will swell," said Sabrina Morris.

Doctor Eric Boren said that cases like Bradley's are not uncommon in Kern County.

"The big group of foods for kids are milk, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, maybe some seafoods. That is about 90% of food allergy in kids, those foods," said Boren.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of food allergies increased in kids 50 percent from 1997 to 2011.

"There may be a little bit of an uptake in general allergy, per se, but certainly some variables or sub-categories, like foods, we think are much more common now. We don't quite know why. It's still an active area of research," said Boren.

Experts advice the only way to prevent a reaction is avoidance.

Three-year-old Allison Gomez's allergies are so bad instead of a list of foods she can't have there are only a few she can have.

"Chicken, turkey apples, bananas, lettuce. We're still in the process. We introduce one food at a time. We introduce it for about a week and make sure she doesn't have a reaction," said her mother Araceli Gomez. "She breaks out in hives. Her skin starts to ooze in patches and stuff."

Allison's list of food she can have is limited to 10 items.

Allison's allergies are so severe, her parents worry about sending her to school.

"We meet with the parent and child. We have a note from the physician that tells us what they're allergic to, what we need to avoid and what we can substitute instead. We then have a plan where we educate the people on the school staff as well as the cafeteria staff. They're also marked in our computer system, where they go through the lunch line, there's a little alert in red that comes up that says they're allergic to whether it's milk or peanuts or fish so they don't get those items. They have a specific place where they eat in the cafeteria," said Debbie Wood, School Health & Neighborhood Support Programs Coordinator.

Sabrina Morris is happy she decided to send her son to school but said there are challenges.

"He realizes now that he can't have the same things that other kids eat and he has to be more cautious. He's well adjusted for the most part, but he does now that he's in school and has other friends that do things and now that he's getting older it's harder, it's harder for him to be left out in a sense," said Sabrina Morris.

Parents and doctors are working to ensure allergies aren't running these kids' lives.

"The goal is for them to be a kid and for us a the doctor and adults to figure out how to do that, with the least amount of medications possible and the least impact on them," said Boren.

There is a dedicated Facebook page one local mother made specifically to help families with kids with allergies. You can find that page by clicking HERE.


Below you can find more information on Anaphylaxis as well as information about peanut allergies and foods to avoid.

You can also click HERE for a great guide on foods to avoid for various allergies.