Help Co Armagh\u2019s Lola reach \u2018Food Freedom\u2019 with life-changing Californian allergy treatment<\/a><\/p>\nKeen to free their daughter from as much suffering as possible, Lola\u2019s parents \u2013 Emily and CJ \u2013 began researching treatments and soon discovered a ground-breaking institute in California, known as The Food Allergy Institute, founded by leading clinical academic scientist Dr Inderpal Randhawa.<\/p>\n
The institute promised to provide families with \u201ca highly effective food allergy treatment option for children and young adults, including those with severe and complex cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most importantly for the Joneses, its Tolerance Induction Program (TIP) avows to create \u201ca world without food allergy limitations.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Lola-Jones-eczema.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The painfully broken skin on Lola\u2019s hands before treatment commenced<\/p>\n
Speaking at the time, Emily said of the institute: \u201cIt\u2019s like the only place in the world doing this. They have a 99% success rate at putting allergies into remission so that kids can live a life of food freedom. They have patients flying in from all over the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other thing is, it\u2019s not just for her allergies because eczema and asthma are all linked to the immune system, so by actually treating her allergies, it can improve kids\u2019 skin and asthma,\u201d which Lola also suffered from.<\/p>\n
To ensure Lola\u2019s access to treatment, the family launched a mammoth fundraising campaign back in February 2024 with a target of \u00a315,000 that would see Lola travel to California up to four times a year to engage in various food challenges and treatment, as well as initial robust testing so that they can come up with her plan.<\/p>\n
Incredibly, they raised over \u00a318,000 through online crowdfunding platforms and in-person fundraising efforts and are delighted to announce that Lola \u2013 who has now visited the California treatment centre on two separate occasions \u2013 is already successfully tolerating a number of allergens.<\/p>\n
Providing an update on Lola\u2019s condition, Emily said: \u201cNow she\u2019s fully in the programme and regularly working through her treatment plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has passed five foods now, so every morning she has chia seeds, poppy seeds, soy powder, buckwheat, and Brazil nut.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has no reaction at all, and obviously, it\u2019s a very small amount, like a quarter of a teaspoon or an eighth of a teaspoon. But she is now able to eat a full Brazil nut every morning, which is just crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The institute has identified and confirmed that Lola has a total of 37 food allergies, which she is now working her way through in small, controlled doses.<\/p>\n
Added Emily: \u201cIn the afternoon, we are on four items in this cycle, so she\u2019s working through macadamia nut, pine nuts, flaxseed, and camel milk.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen she\u2019ll build those up to a certain amount and then she\u2019ll go back to California and challenge those amounts, and if she passes those, then they can be safely consumed and go into the morning as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Lola-Jones-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Left, Lola now with her specially designed gummies and measured trial foods and right, a picture showing her much improved skin condition<\/p>\n
Every week after a food item is introduced, the plan states that the amount should be doubled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started on like 0.0025 grams of a nut inside a gummy that they make in the clinic,\u201d said Emily. \u201cBy week eight, she will be on proper macadamia nuts and she will start eating pine nuts in two weeks\u2019 time, which is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily said the public response to Lola\u2019s treatment has been one of shock and awe. People simply can\u2019t believe the physical changes in Lola or the progress that she\u2019s made in such a short space of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople think it\u2019s amazing,\u201d said Emily. \u201cThey are starting to see the progress and they can\u2019t believe it\u2019s actually working. She was \u2013 and still is to a certain extent \u2013 allergic to these things, but her body is tolerating them to get to the things that she is even more severely allergic to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lola will now continue on the plan for approximately three years, with her next visit scheduled for May.<\/p>\n
And while it must be a daunting experience for a young child to fly to a foreign country for medical treatment, Lola is enjoying her experience and even gets \u201cstamps\u201d on her Food Freedom Passport every time she clears a food.<\/p>\n
Her mindset has totally changed, says Emily, from a young girl who lived largely in fear of food to one who now looks forward to adding new foods to her safe list.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was nervous and apprehensive about what they were going to do to her, but now I think her mindset has changed,\u201d explained Emily.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe lives now with a hope that things are going to be different and her quality of life is going to be a lot better. She hangs onto the hope that when she passes this test or that test, she\u2019s going to be able to eat so many different things.\u201d<\/p>\n
To ensure Lola can continue on the plan for the foreseeable future, the Joneses have once again launched a fundraising effort with the help of several \u201cgenerous\u201d local businesses.<\/p>\n
A raffle will now be held on April 6 at 8pm, featuring a host of incredible prizes including two Belfast Giants tickets, a portrait photoshoot worth \u00a3150 with Sebastian Kidzinski Photography, weekend hire of a hot tub from Tubby, W5 family pass, and a whole host of meal, service and event vouchers, with too many to mention!<\/p>\n
Tickets are priced at \u00a33 each or bundles can be purchased for 15 at \u00a340 and 20 for \u00a350.<\/p>\n
A full list of raffle prizes is available here as well as the ability to purchase tickets.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign Up To Our Newsletter<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMost read today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In just one year, a county Armagh schoolgirl living with severe food allergies has managed to introduce several…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1499,1500,1498,105,1501,12,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-2449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-armagh-city","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-county-armagh","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-latest-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114278042388148419","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Lola-Jones.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n