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The EpiPen is Mightier Than the Sword

Her kids'food allergies inspire Huntington Woods mom
Leslie Berlin to create a children's book explaining the malady.

From the...004

By Stefani Barner

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s parents gleefully greet the corn-
After Sam was first
ing academic year, roughed up
diagnosed, Leslie
over the course of summertime
explains how she and
entertaining and extended bedtimes,
her husband, Jon,
there are many families that know
threw themselves
the next few weeks could be filled
into researching life
with peril for their children who are
with food allergies.
afflicted with food allergies.
They also joined food
Sending their little ones back to the
allergy support groups and
land of classroom birthdays and unsu-
spent countless hours online
pervised lunchtime can be nerve-
learning about the condition
wracking, having to rely on teachers
and its suspected causes.
and school administrators — and
"There are many theories
even the children, themselves — to
about why food allergies have
make safe choices about exposure to
been on the rise,"says Berlin.
allergens.
"Some researchers suspect
Newly published author Leslie Ber-
that they may be linked to the
lin of Huntington Woods knows those
over-processing our food goes
families, as she is one of the millions
through today. Others think
of parents forced to become an ex-
it has something to do with
pert on the subject of food allergies,
our cultural obsession with
triggers and triage, should the worst
cleanliness."
happen. For herself and those walking
The advent and prolifera-
in her shoes, Berlin, 40, penned OK
tion of anti-bacterial products,
4 Me 2 Eat— My Food Allergies, a 28-
including the ubiquitous
Author Leslie Berlin said she wrote OK 4 Me 2
page illustrated book on the subject.
sanitizer found in nearly every
Eat — My Food Allergies, as a way to explain
"This came out of my experience"
purse in America, could also
to children and adults, alike, the serious
says Berlin, whose two boys battled
play a role in the increased
consequences that food allergies can have.
multiple food allergies for years. "Sam,
number of children suffering
my 10-year-old, was allergic to milk
from food allergies.
in infancy; things didn't get really scary until preschool,
"They think we're using so many sanitizing products
when we discovered he was also allergic to eggs, fish and
today that we're actually reducing our bodies ability to
tree nuts."
fight off disease," Berlin, a certified food allergy trainer,
Her other son, Eddie, recently outgrew his own milk
says.
allergy, she adds.
When a life-threatening allergic reaction occurs, an

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emergency treatment is an immediate Epinephrine injec-
tion using a pen-sized EpiPen device.
Berlin studied economics at Michigan State University
before teaming up with Berkley artist Kirsten Brieger to
create the fully illustrated children's book for ages 4-8.
The two women met at the Jewish Community Center in
Oak Park and decided to collaborate on the project.
"I love Kirsten's illustrations — they really make the
book. It's been used in several local schools, and the kids
who hear it feel like it's about them,"says Berlin.
The driving motivation Berlin had for writing the book,
beyond communicating about the very serious medical
condition that affects upward of 12 million Americans,
was to educate other parents about life with a child who
has food allergies.
"I think the hardest part is that it's a very generational
thing," she says."Those of us in our 30s and 40s are the
ones really experiencing what it means to parent a child
with food allergies. Our parents and grandparents don't
always understand the severity of it."
Berlin's book is scheduled to be featured at the Jewish
Book Fair at the JCC in West Bloomfield this November.
"If there's a child with food allergies, I want them to be
able to eat safely anywhere." RT

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