In just one year, a county Armagh schoolgirl living with severe food allergies has managed to introduce several allergens to her diet with the help of a ‘ground-breaking’ California treatment centre.
Six-year-old Lola Jones has lived her whole life on a heavily restricted and tightly monitored diet after her parents discovered in infancy that she suffered from several life-threatening allergies.
Speaking to Armagh I back in 2024, Lola’s mum, Emily, explained that Lola’s condition was so severe that “even the smallest contact with an allergen could cause her to experience a fatal reaction.”
Emily added that Lola faced an abundance of daily challenges ranging from the obvious hospital appointments, blood tests, medicines, restricted diet, and having to carry her EpiPens everywhere, to less obvious – but no less demanding – struggles. These included feeling excluded from activities, having to wear gloves to cover her broken and bleeding skin, sleeping with bandages on her arms and legs, waking multiple times throughout the night, seeing treats or food and knowing she can’t have them, not being able to hold hands or receive kisses from others due to the risk of a reaction, and the mental exhaustion from always being on alert, making sure she doesn’t touch, inhale, or eat any allergens.
Related: Help Co Armagh’s Lola reach ‘Food Freedom’ with life-changing Californian allergy treatment
Keen to free their daughter from as much suffering as possible, Lola’s parents – Emily and CJ – began researching treatments and soon discovered a ground-breaking institute in California, known as The Food Allergy Institute, founded by leading clinical academic scientist Dr Inderpal Randhawa.
The institute promised to provide families with “a highly effective food allergy treatment option for children and young adults, including those with severe and complex cases.”
Most importantly for the Joneses, its Tolerance Induction Program (TIP) avows to create “a world without food allergy limitations.”
The painfully broken skin on Lola’s hands before treatment commenced
Speaking at the time, Emily said of the institute: “It’s like the only place in the world doing this. They have a 99% success rate at putting allergies into remission so that kids can live a life of food freedom. They have patients flying in from all over the world.
“The other thing is, it’s not just for her allergies because eczema and asthma are all linked to the immune system, so by actually treating her allergies, it can improve kids’ skin and asthma,” which Lola also suffered from.
To ensure Lola’s access to treatment, the family launched a mammoth fundraising campaign back in February 2024 with a target of £15,000 that would see Lola travel to California up to four times a year to engage in various food challenges and treatment, as well as initial robust testing so that they can come up with her plan.
Incredibly, they raised over £18,000 through online crowdfunding platforms and in-person fundraising efforts and are delighted to announce that Lola – who has now visited the California treatment centre on two separate occasions – is already successfully tolerating a number of allergens.
Providing an update on Lola’s condition, Emily said: “Now she’s fully in the programme and regularly working through her treatment plan.
“She has passed five foods now, so every morning she has chia seeds, poppy seeds, soy powder, buckwheat, and Brazil nut.
“She has no reaction at all, and obviously, it’s a very small amount, like a quarter of a teaspoon or an eighth of a teaspoon. But she is now able to eat a full Brazil nut every morning, which is just crazy.”
The institute has identified and confirmed that Lola has a total of 37 food allergies, which she is now working her way through in small, controlled doses.
Added Emily: “In the afternoon, we are on four items in this cycle, so she’s working through macadamia nut, pine nuts, flaxseed, and camel milk.
“Then she’ll build those up to a certain amount and then she’ll go back to California and challenge those amounts, and if she passes those, then they can be safely consumed and go into the morning as well.”
Left, Lola now with her specially designed gummies and measured trial foods and right, a picture showing her much improved skin condition
Every week after a food item is introduced, the plan states that the amount should be doubled.
“It started on like 0.0025 grams of a nut inside a gummy that they make in the clinic,” said Emily. “By week eight, she will be on proper macadamia nuts and she will start eating pine nuts in two weeks’ time, which is crazy.”
Emily said the public response to Lola’s treatment has been one of shock and awe. People simply can’t believe the physical changes in Lola or the progress that she’s made in such a short space of time.
“People think it’s amazing,” said Emily. “They are starting to see the progress and they can’t believe it’s actually working. She was – and still is to a certain extent – allergic to these things, but her body is tolerating them to get to the things that she is even more severely allergic to.”
Lola will now continue on the plan for approximately three years, with her next visit scheduled for May.
And while it must be a daunting experience for a young child to fly to a foreign country for medical treatment, Lola is enjoying her experience and even gets “stamps” on her Food Freedom Passport every time she clears a food.
Her mindset has totally changed, says Emily, from a young girl who lived largely in fear of food to one who now looks forward to adding new foods to her safe list.
“She was nervous and apprehensive about what they were going to do to her, but now I think her mindset has changed,” explained Emily.
“She lives now with a hope that things are going to be different and her quality of life is going to be a lot better. She hangs onto the hope that when she passes this test or that test, she’s going to be able to eat so many different things.”
To ensure Lola can continue on the plan for the foreseeable future, the Joneses have once again launched a fundraising effort with the help of several “generous” local businesses.
A raffle will now be held on April 6 at 8pm, featuring a host of incredible prizes including two Belfast Giants tickets, a portrait photoshoot worth £150 with Sebastian Kidzinski Photography, weekend hire of a hot tub from Tubby, W5 family pass, and a whole host of meal, service and event vouchers, with too many to mention!
Tickets are priced at £3 each or bundles can be purchased for 15 at £40 and 20 for £50.
A full list of raffle prizes is available here as well as the ability to purchase tickets.
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