For Denise and David, like millions of other parents, food allergy is more than an inconvenience – it is a matter of life and death. And although they are private people by nature, the severity of their children’s food allergies and the knowledge that food allergies are affecting more and more families every day has turned them into public advocates for food allergy research funding.

A former elementary school teacher, Denise had already had much experience with children when she and David decided to start a family; but nothing could have prepared her for the daily struggles that she would face when Bryan, now 13 years old, and Daniel, age 10, developed life-threatening food allergies to milk, eggs, tree nuts and shellfish.  She found out the hard way that her children were food-allergic.  Taking a single sip of milk-based baby formula when he was six months old, Bryan almost stopped breathing.  Not stopping to change out of her nightgown, Denise ran with him from her apartment to the pediatrician's office just barely in time to save his life. 

When her other son, Daniel, was a baby, a family friend put a bib on him that belonged to another child.  He broke out in hives and gasped for breath, sparking a desperate 911 call and a life saving visit from the paramedics.  Over the years, the boys have grown up, but their allergies have remained with them. 

David never knew that food allergy was a major health concern until his own children were diagnosed.  A self-made businessman whose analysis of financial markets and statistics led him to become a partner of one of the most successful hedge funds in the country, David initially thought that food allergy was a unique problem, affecting only a few children like his.  But after Denise started a support group in the Chicago suburbs and saw membership skyrocket to more than 250 families in their area alone, David’s analytical mind detected a pattern.  He funded a study of school nurses and found that food allergies affected an average of ten children in every elementary school in the United States.  And in five short years, the rate of peanut allergies among children had doubled.

Spurred on by a concern for their children and a desire to help other families like theirs, Denise and David have contributed significant private resources to food allergy research over the past six years.  But it’s not enough – to find effective treatments and a cure for food allergy, the federal government must get involved.

Denise and David founded The Food Allergy Project to bring together concerned parents, researchers, educators and experts to advocate for increased federal resources for food allergy research and to spur the fundamental scientific studies that are needed to find a cure.
Join Denise and David.  Help save children’s lives.