Between friends

Madison Anderson’s life-threatening allergies don’t scare her best pals

By SANDY MICKELSON, Messenger staff writer
Six young girls at Fair Oaks Middle School are pals.

It’s not unusual for a group of girls to hang together, but for these students, their friendship could mean life or death to one of them.

Madison Anderson, 11, has food allergies. Severe food allergies. Even being in the same room with someone heating milk for hot chocolate or frying eggs in butter could kill the youngest child of Doyle and Jennifer Anderson, owners of Anderson Station at Second Avenue South and Seventh Street.

Her pals in fifth grade at the middle school know her problems. They rally around her if they suspect anything amiss. Like the time in elementary school when they formed a circle around her and all ran to safety when another student talked about throwing milk at her.

Because her friends mean so much to her, Madison gave all of them — and three teachers — PAL awards at the end of the school day Thursday. All received certificates, and Madison’s five friends got PAL bracelets too.

Madison’s friends are Molly Matthes, Carson Jarrard, Riley Hartman, Taylor Hintch and Brielle Ulrich. The teachers she honored are Mindy Utley, Lila Heatherington and Jane Harbaugh.

PAL awards, part of a Food and Allergy Network, are Protect a Life awards. For Madison, often called Madi, they are a way to say thanks to her friends for all they do for her.

“They’ve helped me so much, and I really appreciate it,” Madison said. “I wanted to give them something back.”

She said her doctor has approved her to play volleyball, and she also enjoys reading. Math is her favorite subject, and her sites are set on a law degree, even though she’s just in fifth grade.

“I’m going to be a lawyer for special needs kids and I’m going to go to Harvard,” she said. “I’m also special needs, and there’s only one lawyer here in the state of Iowa. I want to be the next one.”

Madison wrote her own speech for Thursday’s ceremony. In it she said, “My friends are one of my best weapons against food allergies. I am honored to have such great friends. These girls help me avoid the dangerous foods by learning more about allergies. When I needed help in the past, these girls are the ones who protected me and went for help for me.”

She also thanked the entire 5 Red team for helping protect her through learning about allergies, being supportive and being willing to wipe down desks and room surfaces every day with moist towelettes. She gave every student a PAL pencil.

Anderson said Madison chose Thursday to honor her friends and teachers because it is national Food Allergy Awareness week.

‘‘Oh, they’re wonderful, these little girls,’’ Jennifer Anderson said. ‘‘Madi and Molly have been together since they were 2 years old in Sunday school. The rest met at Cooper Elementary. Carson is the newest, and she has learned so much in one year about food allergies and how to keep Madison safe.’’

Just talking about what the girls do for her daughter brings tears to Anderson. Knowing someone else is there to help when she can’t be around makes it easier not to follow her daughter everywhere.

‘‘Madison can’t go into the lunchroom, so the girls sit together in another room to eat lunch every day,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘It’s always the core five and Madison, and every week they bring in a new girl. She learns about Madi and her allergies and that it’s not as scary as everybody thinks.’’

Anderson can say those words, but she’s been scared plenty when Madison’s allergies flare.

‘‘She has three kinds of allergies,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘Ingestion, dermatological and airborne.’’

As a baby, Madison showed no allergic reactions, but she was breastfed. The allergies popped up when she started eating. Food with any kind of milk product in it would set her off.

Born six weeks early, Madison has had to fight more than food allergies. On the day of her birth, she had three surgeries to save her and was given just a 30 percent chance of survival.

‘‘They told us to name her and tell her goodbye,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘Our pastor baptized her immediately.’’

The first surgery moved the infant’s esophagus, which had been attached to a lung. Feeding her anything at all would have drowned her.

Five pounds of baby had 50 pounds of problems called VATERS syndrome. The list of horrific problems seemed never ending. V stands for vertebrae. A for anal atresia. TE stands for trachea and esophagus. R is renal. She had severe problems with each. Her condition included more — cardiac and limb anomalies. Her problems became VACTERL.

Madison knows a lot about her problems because she sees a body full of scars and asks questions.

‘‘The allergies are so much scarier because it’s a daily thing where she could die if she’s exposed to these things,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘She’s not allergic to soy milk, but she is allergic to milk protein, cow’s milk, goat’s milk — any milk produced by a mammal.’’

It’s next to impossible to outline all the problems Madison had with her food allergies as she grew. Some foods that were OK for her one week weren’t OK the next. For some reason, manufacturers changed ingredients in their products. And sometimes the ingredients aren’t easy to detect.

‘‘One food said it was dairy-free, and we gave it to her, and she got so sick,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘We read the label more carefully and found it had caseinate. That’s a form of milk. We made the mistake because we did not know the words for all the ingredients.’’

That doesn’t happen any longer. She reads every label of every food she buys and carries a list of what the words mean.

‘‘If there’s ever a question, we don’t give her the food.’’

Madison can’t go into a restaurant to eat, even if the food is dairy-free. Her airborne allergies mean that any time a dairy product is heated — that’s called manipulating the protein — she gets sick.

She can’t be hugged or kissed by her family and friends if they have eaten anything with dairy products, such as pizza or ice cream. If she’s touched, she turns red and starts to swell. She carries moist towelettes so she can cleanse her skin and shares the towelettes with those around her.

Epi-pens are a constant companion, but Madison can’t get by with a single. Her epi-pens are dual because one shot often is not enough to stop an allergic reaction.

She can’t get into a shower or bathtub unless she’s certain the soaps and shampoos used in that tub or shower don’t contain milk products.

‘‘We’ve made that mistake,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘A lot of soap products have milk in them. Even if she’s not using the product, she still can’t get into the shower.’’

In the kitchen, Madison has her own shelf in the refrigerator. Her own food goes there, and no one is allowed to touch it. The family eats together, but the parents eat in shifts so that one is clean at all times if Madison needs help.

Because her airborne allergies kick up when dairy products are put in the oven or microwave, she doesn’t eat normal kid favorites like macaroni and cheese or pizza. Her family can eat those, but only if the food is brought into the house after being cooked elsewhere.

Madison’s brothers, 17-year-old Colten and 15-year-old Cody, have perfected the art of monkey toes, Anderson said.

‘‘They can turn door knobs with their toes so they don’t touch a knob and contaminate it.’’

Contamination is a big concern. If someone makes a peanut butter sandwich and sticks the knife into the jar for a second glob of peanut butter, that jar is then contaminated because the knife came into contact with the bread and the bread is made with dairy products. That’s why Madison has all her own foods.

‘‘She’s a walking miracle,’’ Anderson said. ‘‘I thank God for her every day. She has taught us so much as a family — what is important and what is not. We don’t miss any activity the kids are in.’’

It’s a learning process, she said. But always with the threat of not being there when Madison needs help.

And that’s why, she said, her daughter’s friends are so important to the family.



Contact Sandy Mickelson at (515) 573-2141 or smickelson@messengernews.net