Special-Needs Business Profile: ALLERGYONBOARD.COM

Carey Shoemaker started ALLERGYONBOARD.COM in 2009 with her husband, Jim.

The mission of ALLERGYONBOARD.COM is "to promote the empowerment and positive self-esteem of children with food allergies. We offer books and apparel that are informative and effective, and do so in a creative, engaging way. We focus our products on helping children learn the self-management skills they will need to master a variety of challenging situations."

Shoemaker has a son who is allergic to milk, and her experience seeking help for him inspired the business. "As we began to try and teach our son about his allergies, we began to look for resources that would help us promote awareness and safety. Much of what we found seemed effective, but the messaging was somewhat negative -- i.e. 'don't feed me.' We felt strongly that we did not want our son to be stigmatized by his allergy -- we did not want it to define him. Because we couldn't find the products and resources we were looking for, we decided to create our own."

"It began with a book that I wrote for him called Allergy Tales: A Birthday Party," Shoemaker recalls. "He enjoyed it tremendously, so I wrote a couple more for him. We began to think that we probably were not the only parents struggling to find resources that were both effective and empowering, and so we decided to publish the books. From there, we began to expand on our concepts of promoting self-esteem, empowerment, and self-management, which is what gave us the idea for the T-shirt designs."

Asked if the business is a success, Shoemaker says, "Absolutely! We feel strongly that we are contributing a valuable product to a network of families with whom we share a special bond." Those families have shown their appreciation. "We have received extremely positive feedback. The concept of raising your child with positive self-esteem and empowering them to be able to manage challenging situations is one that every parent can connect with. Parents have been supportive, encouraging, and appreciative of what we are trying to accomplish."

The best thing about the business, Shoemaker says, is "the opportunity to share something we value and believe in with others who also will value it. It's extremely rewarding." The hardest thing? "Being rookies in the world of small business! We have had a steep learning curve -- how to publish a book, how to create a line of apparel, how to launch a website. This is nothing we have ever done before, so we are definitely in unfamiliar territory. But our commitment to our concept and our unwavering belief in what we have to offer has made it a very enjoyable, exciting process."

"We have additional books written that we still need to publish and many ideas for books beyond those," Shoemaker reports. "We also have t-shirt designs for additional allergens and plan to create additional designs based on the feedback we receive from the food allergy community. We also would like to expand to other products -- bracelets, epi-pen holders, etc."

For those considering starting a business, Shoemaker advises, "I absolutely recommend taking on issues that you feel strongly about -- it truly becomes a labor of love. And as consumers, if we feel the market is not providing what we are looking for, we need to take the initiative to provide for ourselves -- especially when it comes to our children."

Shoemaker's advice to other parents of children with special needs is encompassed in the company's tagline -- "'There's so much more to me.' First and foremost, your child is a child whose self-esteem and self-confidence are developing every day. As serious as your child's situation may be, it's important that you don't allow it to isolate your child or define their identity."

When did you find out your child had special needs?

We went through what we have since learned is a fairly typical course in identifying our son's allergy. As an infant, he had severe eczema. Initially, we were feeding him milk-based formulas. We made trip after trip after trip to the pediatrician's office with concerns about the eczema. And in turn, we tried lotion after lotion after lotion. When he was six months old, we took him to a dermatologist who recommended topical steroids and also discussed possibly prescribing oral steroids. After doing extensive research on the eczema issue, we decided that before trying any steroid therapies, we would switch him to soy-based formula. About a week into the use of the soy-based formula, his skin had cleared, he was no longer itching and scratching, and he seemed to be "cured." And yet, we still didn't quite grasp that he had an actual allergy to milk products. In retrospect, it seems so strange that we didn't make that connection, and seems so wrong that his pediatrician didn't. A few weeks later, I gave him a small spoonful of cottage cheese. He hated it of course (what was I thinking!) and immediately spit it out. And within a minute, he had broken out in hives and began frantically rubbing his eyes. I called the pediatrician's office and upon their recommendation, gave him some Benadryl. He seemed to feel some immediate relief and within an hour, the hives were completely gone. Shortly thereafter, we had him fully tested and he was diagnosed with a milk allergy.How did the diagnosis affect your family?

Neither my husband nor I have any personal or family history of food allergies, so this was completely new territory for us. I think the early effect, however, was minimal. Because our son was so young, we could easily control his environment and his exposure to allergens. Certainly we had to make changes in the food products we purchased, had to become educated on all the various forms a milk protein can take, and had to become expert food label readers. But with those tasks mastered, we felt confident in our ability to manage the situation. The more significant challenges and impact came as we began to explore pre-school programs and began to think about how we were going to teach him about his allergy.

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