Allergy Alert Dogs | A K9 for Kate

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Kate is a sweet little 4 y/o girl who is full of life and lots of spunk.  She also has multiple life threatening food allergies and severe asthma that have a huge impact on her daily life.   There is no cure for food allergies. The only way to prevent an anaphylactic life-threatening allergic reaction is strict avoidance of her allergens. Simple things that most take for granted like a sandwich, a glass of milk, pizza, chocolate, etc… could kill within minutes. 

Kate has had countless allergic reactions and trips to the ER.   Most of her reactions have been from coming into physical contact with her allergens and not necessarily from ingesting them. Cheese residue on a play ground, the smell of eggs cooking, fresh pizza, etc… Ingestion reactions cause her blood pressure to drop so quickly that she looses consciousness very quickly and goes into what is known as anaphylactic shock. Typically with each severe reaction, it can take two – three weeks of breathing treatments and steroids to recover.

In the spring of 2009, we learned about an organization that trains dogs for children with severe, life-threatening food allergies like Kate’s.  We met with the founder at the Thrive Expo in Chicago in April 2009 and started our fundraising journey to getting a dog for Kate.  Finally, in April 2010, we traveled to Colorado Springs, Co. where we trained with Kate’s dog, Clifford for two weeks.  Clifford is amazing!  He can detect tiny amounts of her allergens in any form.. flour, oils, butters, baked in, etc… in any environment including schools, movie theatres, libraries, playgrounds, etc…   He has also benefited Kate’s brother, Nick who has a life-threatening nut allergies. 

This site was originally set up for fundraising purposes to get Clifford.  Service Dogs typically cost between $ 15,000 - $ 22,000 since they require extensive training that can take a couple of years.  Thank you to the many people, businesses and organizations who helped us get Clifford.  He is one awesome dog! 

If you would like to learn more about food allergies, Kate’s mom is a certified PAC consultant (Protect Allergic Children) and will gladly educate local families, schools, churches, camps, etc… on how to protect allergic children.  She has also created several products to help keep Kate safe.  She is happy to make similar for other families.  PLease visit www.alertwear.com.  You can contact Ann at ak94kate@yahoo.com.

A video montage for Nick & Kate that tells a bit more about their story:

Join Kate’s Cause on Facebook to receive updates.  If you would like to help another child raising funds for a service dog, please contact Angel Service Dogs through  www.angelservicedogs.com.