Hello, my name is Diya Chabria and this is the time when a yummy piece of food created a life threatening situation for me! Across the world many kids are suffering due to neglect of the proper attention for food allergies. I was diagnosed 21 days after birth. Since then I have had a severe allergy to eggs and a life- threatening allergy to peanuts, almonds, any other nut you can think of I was allergic to it, also I had an allergy to shellfish. A food allergy can cause a person to have hives on the skin, swelling in the throat leaving a person having trouble breathing  which can often  lead to death.Most people with allergies face an attack before identifying themselves with food allergies. Although I was already diagnosed, my allergies weren’t taken seriously which lead to a horrible situation. When I was in preschool, I brought home some candy; however, there was no proper labeling on it. My family  believed it was okay to feed me the candy since the teachers knew I had life threatening food allergies. Immediately after taking a tiny bite, I had trouble breathing. As a kid, I used to fear of using what seemed to be the painful epipen! When the paramedics arrived, they administered the epipen, as that was the only way I would survive. We later found out that the piece of candy was a Reese’s peanut butter cup. Even though I was physically okay, many people still did not understand the seriousness of my allergies. Allergies did put restrictions on eating and sometimes enjoying good food and sometimes even friendships. I was made fun of, and people would eat things I was allergic to on purpose to make me move away from them. My parents were fortunate to be able to  purchase an epipen for me, which protected me! In November of 2018 I got to attend an amazing food allergy conference which opened my eyes up to new ways fo helping  people who struggle with food allergies everyday. With the experiences I have faced, I am determined to provide epipens for those who can not receive them!