Food Allergy Hero of the Month: Jason Lightfritz

Meet Jason, a Red Sneaker Ambassador who lives in Colorado, USA!

By Cassie Lightfritz, Jason’s mom

Jason had a reaction to a Nutty Bar at 11 months old in January 2017. We had him tested for peanuts and a couple other ingredients in the nutty bar. He was only positive for peanuts. But soon the reactions became more often- almost once a week. In May 2017 he went to an allergist and they took some blood, and we found out in June 2017 that he was also allergic to soy. By the end of July, he started reacting to pinto beans, baked beans and kidney beans. We had him tested again in September 2017, and found out that he is allergic to all legumes. He has had anaphylactic reactions about 10 times.

Red Sneakers for Oakley was the first food allergy organization that we found, and Jason has been wearing red sneakers ever since! He calls them his Oakley Shoes. Every time someone compliments him on his red shoes he tells them Oakley‘s story. 

Jason is the only person in our circle that has food allergies, but at every single family event or one of my friend’s get-togethers they always run everything through us to make sure it is safe for Jason. 

Even though he is really good about his food allergies, he struggles very much with not being included whether it’s not being able to get a corndog at a restaurant or a cupcake at a classmate’s birthday party. Jason is a very big advocate for himself. He loves raising food allergy awareness at school and loves being an Ambassador for Red Sneakers for Oakley as well as Elijah’s Echo.

We started an Instagram and a YouTube channel to help spread food allergy awareness and share Jason’s food allergy journey. We will be visiting Disney World in Orlando in February 2023 and plan on taking videos and talking to chefs in the parks about how to keep Jason safe while on vacation. Check out our Instagram and YouTube channel to see our food allergy experience while on vacation and at Disney World!

Jason was recently cleared to eat soy lecithin, so that opened up a whole new world for him. We are excited to continue his food freedom journey at the SoCal Food Allergy Institute in 2023 (as soon as we move)!

Our goal is to one day make a comic book about Jason’s struggles with food.