I’d like to share an OpEd I wrote about some of my experiences raising a child with severe food allergies. (Thanks to all the great training over at the fabulous OpEd Project!) It’s part of a larger project on motherhood and food allergies. Here’s a teaser:

Today on Valentine’s Day, my daughter and I will sift through the candy she receives from her third-grade classmates and throw most of it away. Although the tradition of trading chocolate and sugared hearts seems harmless, it actually poses a risk to my daughter and the millions of other American children who suffer from severe food allergies.

This threat became all too real at the beginning of January with the death of 7-year-old Ammaria Johnson. Ammaria died of an allergic reaction to a peanut, and her Chesterfield, Virginia, school did not give her any medication.

The emotional devastation of this loss is compounded by its senselessness: Ammaria’s death could have been easily prevented by epinephrine….

To read more, please go to CNN.com.