Our Story
10 new puppies born today 8/7/09 - One of these will be for Ethan!!!
On July 14th, 2005 our 13 month old son had his first anaphylactic reaction from exposure to peanut butter. We have since learned of his life threatening allergy to all nuts and as of last week, soy. It has changed our lives in unimaginable ways. We have spent many days in the ER as well as have been admitted to the hospital several times with reactions. The reactions almost always trigger asthma issues, and often an exposure to even trace amounts of nuts or nut dust, will leave Ethan with breathing trouble for weeks. We will then have to do nebulizer treatments around the clock and use steroids to get him breathing well again. If you wish to read more about Ethan, please click on the About link above.
In order to help our son live life to the fullest, and gain some freedom, we have applied and been approved for a Nut Detecting Service Dog. These dogs when trained correctly, can detect even minute amounts of the allergen. They are absolutely amazing! Check out the link to Angel Service Dogs for more info.
We will need to raise $10,000 for the training of this dog, but are determined to reach that goal for our boy! We are in the midst of organizing a raffle for a chance to win $10,000 cash. Stay tuned! If you are interested in donating, you may do so by clicking the donate button.
We truly appreciate all of your help and generosity. We realize that without all of you, this would not be possible.
Thank you,
Ethan’s Mommy & Daddy
Donate money for Ethan’s service dog
PayPal Donate
Proud Sponsors:
May 15, 2009 at 4:46 am
Ready to donate, where’s the option? My bff is donating as well as my mom
May 18, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Vicki – the page is now updated. Thank you so much for your help!! There is now a donations link at the right column or at the bottom of our story on the first page. It all goes to the same place.
Thanks again! Steve & Amy
May 19, 2009 at 8:58 am
Steve and Amy, this is a wonderful thing you are doing for Ethan. Kelly and I look forward to pictures of Ethan and his new Best Friend! Best wishes. -Kevin & Kelly
May 27, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Kevin & Kelly,
Thank you for supporting us in our journey to help our son. :0) We very much appreciate your kindness.
We will certainly post pictures of Ethan’s soon to be best friend just as soon as we have them!! :0)
Thank you again!
May 19, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Ethan is very blessed to have parents like you. Keep up your untiring efforts for him to lead a normal life as possible. Best wishes with this endeavor. Just know that I am passing the word on in my facebook account as well. I am glad that Becky passed this information on to us.
May 27, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Thank you. :0) We truly believe Ethan is blessed to having caring people like all of you who are helping us with this journey. Without all of you, this would not be possible. :0) We appreciate you passing on the word. Becky & Steve have been such dear friends to our family, and we are truly thankful and feel very blessed to have them as friends. Becky has even gone out of her way to bake Ethan home-made goodies from scratch to make sure he is safe. We always know we can stop at Aunt Becky’s for some nut free carmel corn or banana bread. :0)
May 19, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Hi I am also a mother of a 6 yr old boy with peanut treenut allergy.It is very hard ,I can relate to your story.I wish you all the best and great luck with the dog. I hope and pray for you that Ethan will attend school as normal and have a much better circle of friends. My son’s allergy isn’t airborne yet just consumption and handling.Those pesky black walnuts!!
May 27, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Thank you for sharing about your son. I pray for you all that his allergy never gets to the point of being airborne. If he ever needs a little friend to tag along with him– I know one that would be thrilled to have another nut-allergy-buddy! :0)
Thank you for your well wishes and support, we are truly thankful.
May 21, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I, too, have a child with a nut allergy. Although not as severe, I am consistently on alert for possible problems. I will be sending your video and information to everyone I know, and look forward to seeing pictures of Ethan with his new dog very soon. Know that you are surrounded by prayers and love. Together, we can do this.
May 27, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Together- WE CAN do this!!!!!!! THANK YOU so much for your thoughtfulness, prayers, love and support. We appreciate you forwarding this on to others also. :0)
YES– as soon as we get the $2500 down payment, which we are very close to getting, (YaY!!!!!!!) they will purchase Ethan’s dog and send us some pictures. We will post them to the site and keep everyone up to date! We feel so blessed to have so many going on this journey with us! :0) Thank you again!
May 23, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Steve and Amy,
What a surprise to see you on the local evening news recently. Margaret Clark passed on the info. to us to find your website. Good luck with the new dog and we hope Ethan will be very successful going to school.
May 27, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Thank you, and thank you to Margaret too for passing on the info! :0)
We won’t have the dog for about 18 months as that is how long it will take for scent training as well as fund-raising, ;0) but we too are hopeful that in a couple of years, Ethan will be able to participate in much more, including school! :0)
June 3, 2009 at 1:09 pm
This was all new to me ten years ago when we found out my daughter’s first child had an anaphylactic allergy to dairy (but not air-borne). Four years later, we learned it was possible to have multiple allergies of a life threatening nature. The second child was dealing with allergies to peanuts/tree nuts, dairy, and eggs that are all air-borne, touch, and ingested threats to her little life!! Being a grandmother, my heart goes out to you, the parents, as you also deal with the stress of keeping a child safe and giving them some normalcy – and too the child as they deal with their peers and the world around them that does not understand. I wish the price of these dogs were not so forbidding!!!! Good Luck with the success of the fund-raising.
June 3, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I will keep your daughter and her children in our prayers. It is such a hard thing to be the one responsible for these little people with these life threatening allergies— but having family members or a gramma that “get’s it” is probably a huge source of strength for your daughter. Keep up the good work on that one!!!!!!! :0)
The cost for these Service Dogs does seem huge, but they are trained extensively for 18 months, and there must be some cost for taking care of the dog as well as for this extensive scent training. I do wish every child with life threatening allergies could have one, and that is what Angel Service Dogs is working to do. I’m sure our family will continue working with Angel Service Dogs to help other children get these life saving dogs. Thank you so much for your support. :0)
July 2, 2009 at 1:41 am
How did he do with the samples?
July 13, 2009 at 4:33 am
Come on AME! Let’s hear the update???
August 2, 2009 at 10:26 pm
hey, guys!!
Wanted to let you know I sent the website via my twitter account. used the hash tag #peanutallergy. I’m hoping it gets picked up and goes viral.
August 6, 2009 at 2:47 am
Glad to see the update!
August 11, 2009 at 12:54 pm
God Bless You guys!! Way to go Mom and Dad! This could just be another “let’s hope it doesnt happen”. But, you are going the extra mile. We need more parents like you. Hopefully someday my boys (10 & 7) can meet Ethan in person. We just met him on the computer and learned about anaphylaxis! Thanks for sharing your story.
September 2, 2009 at 10:33 pm
You are so sweet, thank you. We don’t feel like we are going an extra mile, we feel like we are doing only what is necessary to keep Ethan safe… and even then, sometimes with the best of intentions and preparing of everybody, we fail. The idea that this dog could and probably will save his life on more than one occasion is amazing to us!! :0) Man’s best friend will truly be Ethan’s best friend. :0)
We’re so glad you all learned about food allergy through our site! :0) Thank you again. :0)
August 22, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Hi Ethan,
I am glad we are friends. I am so happy that you are going to get a service dog. I can’t wait to see pictures.
Your Friend,
Kyle
September 2, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Hi Kyle,
Ethan is so very proud to be able to call you his friend. We will definitely send you pictures of Ethan’s dog, and are hopeful that someday, that you two nut allergy friends will be able to meet! You are encouraging to us as well as inspiring. I know Ethan will learn a lot from having you as his buddy. Thank you for writing and submitting the article you wrote about Ethan. We truly are blessed with your friendship!! And by the way— you have an unbelievable Mom!! She’s amazing and inspiring as well! Give her an extra hug tonight!! :0)