Food Is Life – Parenting a Child With Severe Food Allergies, With Erik & Jennifer Garcia
In today’s episode of the Building Us podcast, Jennifer Garcia and Erik Garcia, CFP® recount their journey of discovering their son’s severe food allergies, and carefully guiding their family through it. 17 years later, now, they’re tackling the college experience.
Episode Highlights:
- Erik introduces his wife, Jen Garcia. (3:45)
- Jen shares how their son’s severe food allergy started. (5:57)
- Erik mentions one of the things that comes commonly with food allergies. (8:52)
- Erik explains the difference between food allergies and food sensitivities. (10:40)
- Jen explains why they carry more than one epi-pen. (12:15)
- How did Jen and Erik explain their son’s condition to other family members? (21:24)
- Jen shares some of the home modifications they did for the safety of their son. (26:43)
- Erik shares how he coped with all of the adjustments they did. (29:31)
- Erik shares the lessons he’s learned from food allergies. (45:09)
Key Quotes:
- “Honestly, I just wish people would allow us to keep him alive. That’s all I’m trying to do, that’s all he’s trying to do is just to stay alive and enjoy other parts of life.” – Jennifer Garcia
- “I’ve told people many times, we can’t come to your house, but, you are more than welcome to invite yourself to ours. And, the friends that have done that for us, those are the ones that have stuck by us and it’s made this doable.” – Jennifer Garcia
- “I wish people understood the severity of food allergies…that it’s not like respiratory allergies, where treatment is a little bit of exposure and small amounts, like food allergies. Any exposure of any amount is not good. A lot of people think that if I just have a little bit it’s not going to hurt. A little bit is all it takes.” – Erik Garcia
