Contributor Profiles
Writer
Stacey Sturner
When in 2012 her 4-year-old son, Jackson, was hospitalized with a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease – a chronic condition that causes inflammation of the digestive tract – Stacey Sturner says she and her husband were “devastated”.
A few months later, in March 2013, Jackson’s younger brother – 1-year-old Reid – was diagnosed with a peanut allergy. “With these two diseases hovering in our midst, I reached a crossroads,” Stacey wrote in a first-person article published in May 2017 in Allergic Living magazine.
“I dove headfirst into scientific research to uncover clues regarding the whats and whys of food allergies, Crohn’s, and their points of intersection,” she says. “Recognizing that a lot of misinformation and fear mongering exist online, I traded Dr. Google for every relevant peer-reviewed study to which I could gain access.”
Stacey focused on researching and disseminating accurate information that she could share with other families facing similar health challenges. With that in mind, in January 2015, she founded a closed group on Facebook called Food Allergy Treatment Talk to share experiences and current information with other food allergy moms. The site noted advances in developing and maintaining healthy microbiomes, as well as the use of nasal spray vaccines and immunotherapy to combat peanut allergy.
Crohn’s research continues
Although there is currently no cure for Crohn’s, pharmaceutical researchers are continually working to develop anti-inflammatory drugs that could provide a better quality of life for those suffering from the condition and to induce remission.
Stacey, a science communications specialist, has been a senior manager of healthcare and research marketing with the American Lung Association in Chicago since 2019. Despite her busy workdays, she manages to keep her Facebook food allergy page up to date and relevant.
Tamara Hubbard, a family therapist and international food allergy mental health consultant, describes Stacey as “a valuable resource to the food allergy community…a wealth of knowledge.”
She is a “doer”; not just a “thinker”. When she stumbled across an internet story indicating that Crohn’s disease could be triggered by a pathogen (abbreviated as MAP) passed to humans through cows milk, she organized for renowned experts from around the world to discuss the subject at a 2015 symposium in the Chicago area.
“I’m increasingly certain that investigating and sharing such research is my calling in life, and a reason why my sons were afflicted with these imperfections – their lightning bolts to my thunder,” Stacey wrote in her May 2017 article in Allergic Living magazine. “Together, we are weathering the storm. Despite occasional overcast days, the dark clouds are fewer and farther between. I’m a food allergy advocate; I’m a Crohn’s advocate. Most importantly, though, I’m a mom.”
You can read Stacey’s first-person account of the 2015 symposium discussing the possible uses of antibiotics and vaccines to treat Crohn’s disease.