Living with Severe Eczema and Allergies: Krysia’s Family Journey
South Carolina native Krysia Seither married her high school sweetheart. When the young couple was given the chance to adopt their infant son Judah, they were overjoyed. But months later, Judah’s eczema appeared and the challenge of caring for a child with severe eczema – and life-threatening allergies – began.
“I felt so isolated and alone,” says Krysia. “The GPER Caregiver Support group is a godsend. The weekly meetings with other parents who understand what we are going through really help.”
Judah, now 4, is sleeping better and his parents have better routines to manage his skin care, though flareups are a frequent part of their lives. Like many parents, though, they struggled to find the information, products and routines that could help their itchy, uncomfortable son in his early days.
“Our pediatrician really had little to offer. Finally, we were able to find a pediatric dermatologist but had to travel three hours for appointments and wait months to get one.”
“Every child with eczema is different,” says Krysia. “For Judah, things that helped other kids didn’t work for him. Wet wraps (wrapping a child in wet gauze to hydrate the skin) only made his eczema worse.”
Judah has spent almost half his life in COVID times so had had a limited preschool experience. Now that Judah is in pre-K, Krysia must spend a lot of energy educating teachers and kids about eczema. The hardest thing: multiple allergies. “He’s already had 2 anaphylactic reactions. Making sure everyone understands what he needs to be safe has been a scary experience.”
Unsolicited advice has also been tough. “It’s constant, and people are so disappointed that we won’t try the (sometimes) bizarre things they suggest. It feels like they think I’m a bad parent for not following their advice.”
Krysia is hoping that eczema drugs coming on the market will make a difference for Judah. “It’s so hard for families to find out about eczema treatments. GPER is a source I trust to let me know what is going on in research. I’m so grateful it’s there for us.”
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