My breathing is heavy while I stare at the fluorescent lights in the waiting room of my doctor’s office. The disappointment is slowly seeping in as my skin crawls. All hope is being drained with every shallow breath I manage.
All 13 long years of my life were leading up to this moment. I can feel my body shutting down. A nurse aggressively jabs the outside of my leg with a long sharp needle. The pain jolts me back to reality.
I ask my mother for her phone so I can talk to my friends and family for one last time. I call a few and tell them nonchalantly how important they are to me. The second needle feels deeper than the first as the chemicals are released into my blood.
On the precipice of extinction, I had a realization; our weaknesses make us the strongest.
I suffer from severe food allergies to eggs and nuts. When I was 13 the doctors conducted an “Egg Challenge.” In this, they monitor you as you ingest the allergen in hopes that you have outgrown the allergy.
In my youth, food allergies were the cause of many tears. Every holiday and classmate’s birthday were another opportunity for me to feel exiled. Those delicious cupcakes were a well-disguised poison. I just wanted to be like all the other kids and experience the carefree freedom of those cupcakes.
It was not until after my near-death experience that I recognized how much of a gift food allergies are to me. This small biological defect is unique, it is a part of me and I am now proud of that.
Our weaknesses make us strongest.
This blog seeks to empower, educate and share.
Brandon A Carlson 