Good Friends Can Make All The Difference!

“I had never had a friend with food allergies before I met Tash at school, we were 11 years old; I had also never heard of anyone having a severe allergic reaction to food. When we asked, ‘What are you allergic to Tash?’ she listed the foods she couldn’t eat, a list that as her friend, I ended up becoming very familiar with.

The first question I was desperate to ask Tash soon after we met was, ‘So you’ve NEVER had chocolate?!’ and of course, her answer was "No." It was difficult for me to comprehend how she lived without all the foods that I could just pick up and eat without any thought. At school, we had to remember at lunchtime to question if we were eating anything that could harm Tash, so we were always careful and would wash our hands straight after eating, just in case.

Tash and I used to go ice-skating, our favourite time together every week and we got chips a couple of times afterwards from MacDonald’s. I soon learned from her that just because a burger seemed safe enough, to Tash it was dangerous. She explained to me all about the ingredients you could or couldn't see, such as milk in the bun and the dangers of cross-contamination of cheese and the sesame seeds on top of the buns.

One of my favourite memories is when my mum made us a roast chicken dinner which was free from ingredients Tash was allergic to. My mum had spoken to Tash's mum at length about how to keep her safe and we were so excited to have dinner together.

My mum wanted to make stuffing, Tash had never eaten it before so we triple-checked all the ingredients, then checked with Tash's mum and to our surprise, it was fine for Tash to eat when made by only adding water. When she tried it for the first time, a tiny bit first, her face lit up, she loved it! She took extra home!

Being friends with Tash opened my eyes to the struggles faced every day by people with food allergies. Tash taught us about the dangers of food allergies. We her friends understood and it was incredibly important for us to make sure we did our part as her friends to help keep her safe - just as Tash had to, every hour of every single day.”

Thank you @milliekirklandx for sharing some of your precious memories with Natasha.