Katie's Fundraising Story

In January 2017 my son Josh experienced an anaphylactic allergic reaction. It was very scary for him and me, it started with hives on his feet which very quickly spread up his legs and onto his body. At the same time his hands and feet were starting to swell.

By the time the ambulance had arrived, his lips and tongue were swelling and he was struggling to breath properly. He was taken to hospital and luckily he was ok. This came completely out of nowhere and we were given Adrenaline Auto-Injectors and training on how to use them.

Two days later the same thing happened again and we had to administer the epi pen with another trip to hospital via ambulance. In the space of a fortnight this happened three times and it was only then that I started to notice a pattern that it was happening the day after his swimming lessons.

Over the next three months Josh became quite ill with extreme joint paint, stomach cramps, headaches and tiredness. He had numerous trips to different hospitals with various blood tests and allergy tests.

Finally Dr Fox, from St Thomas’s hospital in London diagnosed Josh as having chronic urticaria. Josh was having delayed anaphylactic reactions to the cold, caused by his swimming lessons where he was having a full body exposure to the cold. Urticaria is when your body reacts to physical elements as opposed to food allegies. He also struggles with the heat.

Josh is currently on daily medication which is working for him. To find out he was allergic to the cold was very upsetting and alarming as a parent.

Allergy UK cover Urticaria and I wanted to help raise money to increase the awareness of this rare condition and help others by taking part in the Cambridge Half Marathon 2018.