With asthma camp, girl and mom breathe easier
Elyssa Zukin is zigzagging through her Mar Vista home, dodging life-size Barbie dolls and art projects in an attempt to locate her “peak flow.”
“This is it,” she says eagerly upon return, showing off the long, tube-like device that measures the air flow from her lungs. “You just breathe inside it,” and when it shows a certain number, “I’m healthy.”
This is just one of the countless medical details and procedures Elyssa has learned, so it’s a wonder she has any room in her head for requisite sixth-grade academics.
Food allergies have been a part of Elyssa’s life since she was 17 days old. After supplementing breast milk with formula, Elyssa’s mother, Maryann, noticed her child breaking out in hives.
Elyssa was soon diagnosed as having a hypersensitive allergy to milk and peanuts, which requires her to carry an EpiPen, an injection device that can stop severe allergic reactions.
Her mother constantly worried about the peanut butter sandwiches Elyssa’s friends brought to lunch and the milk served with cookies at Girl Scout meetings, all of which could gravely impact her daughter’s health.
But Elyssa found respite from her anxiety for a week last summer, when she attended the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America Asthma Camp.
The camp, in the fresh air of Yucaipa, welcomes 85 kids ages 8 to 14 into an environment where their food allergies and asthma are closely monitored by medical professionals.
“We have all the regular camp activities like swimming and arts and crafts -- everything except for horseback riding or petting zoos, because the kids might react to the animals,” said Cathy Pollak, the camp’s heath educator.
This is where Elyssa learned to use that special peak flow meter, took up swing dancing and chomped down on some “awww-some” chili dogs.
“It was such a luxury to have normal parent worries,” Maryann Zukin recalled. “Like, ‘Oh, this is the longest she’s been away from home’ or ‘Will she be homesick?’ rather than ‘Will they use the same spoon in the soy milk and the rice milk?’ ”
AAFA Asthma Camp is one of 60 organizations receiving financial support this year through the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign. More than 8,000 underprivileged children will go to camp this summer, thanks to $1.5 million raised last year.
The annual fundraising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $1.1 million in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.
The Zukins are awaiting word on Elyssa’s admission to this year’s summer program, which arrived last year on the eve of the “American Idol” season finale.
“Maybe we’ll hear on the finale again this year,” Elyssa said. “I mean, I’d like to watch Jordin [Sparks] win, but I’d be much more excited if I found out I could go to camp again.”
Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771.
To make donations by credit card, go to latimes.com/summercamp. To send checks, use the attached coupon. Do not send cash.
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