“My allergy has taught me from a young age that not everything is going to be fair. It has shaped me into a stronger person. “

It was 8th-grade year and I was being rolled out of the middle school on a stretcher in front of all my classmates. Talk about embarrassing. I could feel all the eyes staring at me out the window. About 10 minutes before that I had to stab myself in the leg with my Epipen because I was unable to breathe. I had not slept the night before, showed up late to school, and spent most of the day in the nurse’s office. I had taken multiple Benadryl before it was no longer relieving my symptoms. My night was spent at the hospital and I had to stab another Epipen into my leg. Let's just say I had a rough couple of days.

For as long as I can remember I have had life-threatening allergies. It started out with just peanuts, but now I am allergic to all nuts, soy, peas, lentils, and chickpeas. In the scenario that I described above, I had a reaction to soy protein that was in chili on a chili cheese dog I had eaten. Soy is not even what I'm the most allergic to. I sometimes wonder what would happen if I ate peanuts. How long would I have until I could get my epi-pen? It scares me to think about and it scares me even more that some people do not take it seriously.

Living in fear of almost every meal is not a fun way to live. What happens if someone eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before making my food? Going back to the fact that some people don’t take it seriously, someone could play what they think is a harmless “joke” on me but it really turns out to be an almost fatal or even fatal reaction. I have heard many people joke about my many allergies, on the outside I laugh, but on the inside, it's eating away at me and it hurts. It's hard to think about, but it could be a reality.

My allergy has taught me from a young age that not everything is going to be fair. It has shaped me into a stronger person. There were many instances where I was in a group setting and I was the only one who could not eat the food provided. Looking back I remember how upset I was in the moment but now I think of the lessons these situations taught me. It also taught me responsibility. Everywhere I go I have to remember my epi-pen and check everything I eat. I have to be extremely diligent and watchful of my surroundings. Overall, it has been a tough journey, but I hope to one day overcome my situation.

- Hollie