Growing Through My Journey: A Message To The Food Allergy Kids
To the Boys and Girls I once was, and to their Parents:
My food allergies don’t hold me back from my goals!
To be born with food allergies is to be born different. There is no way around it. You are born unlike the other children you are surrounded by. Unlike the other boys, or the other girls, you have inherently more risk automatically, because you could die from a food that others snack on. It's not fun. It is not easy.
I used to really struggle with the idea that I was different. Throughout Elementary School, I quickly learned that acknowledging it, and trying to advertise it brought nothing but pain from the others around me who did not understand. So by the beginning of Middle School, I began to simply pretend that I wasn't born with any differences at all.
This came with its own problems too. By pretending they didn't exist, I began to shut out who I really was. I began to neglect the positives because all I could think about was the negatives. All I could comprehend was the fact that I didn't choose this, and that I was given this without agreeing.
I am on the cross-country team at my school
But it was because of the fact that I did not agree, I was able to grow. Without my allergies and asthma, and the hardships that I faced through them, I would not be as responsible as I am. I would not have the pain tolerance I do thanks to many epi-pen jabs and asthma attacks I have faced. I would not have the perseverance, and the heart to do what I am doing right now. I learned that it is not in spite of what I am given that I succeed, but because of it, I am.
When I was a boy, all I wanted to do was talk to someone older who was like me. I wanted to see someone who had been through it all, who had made it to the light at the end of the tunnel. I wanted to be able to ask them how they did it. I wanted to so that I could make sure that I could too.
That is why I want to offer up myself for questions or conversation to anyone who may need it, whether it be the child that I once was, or their parents. Whoever would like to speak to someone who has maybe not yet reached the end of that tunnel, but may be further along than they are currently.
If that may be you, please reach out to my email personally at agstaponkus@gmail.com, or simply DM me on Instagram @stocktradesforoakley.
