Lola Jones (5) from Portadown can’t eat most foods, must wear gloves to cover broken and bleeding skin and can’t hold hands or kiss. If she does venture outside for even a few minutes to play with her younger siblings Jorgi (4) and Carlos (2), she must immediately change her clothes and shower when she comes back inside. It is an exhausting lifestyle which forces little Lola and her family to always be on alert to ensure she doesn’t touch, inhale or eat any allergens.
Desperate to give their little girl some quality of life, her parents Emily and CJ Jones were relieved to discover a specialist clinic in the US, with an impressive 99% success rate for putting chronic allergies in remission. The couple, who run the sports coaching and merchandise firm Jones JR Sports, have set up a fund — Lola’s Journey to Food Freedom — hoping to raise £15,000 towards the cost of the first year of treatment. Within just a few weeks, more than £9,000 has been donated, allowing the couple to make an approach to the Food Allergy Institute in California who have agreed to see Lola in September.
Mum Emily explains how difficult life is for little Lola and the whole family who all work hard every day to keep her safe. “Lola suffers from life-threatening allergies, as well as other atopic diseases,” Emily explains. “She has severe eczema, asthma and hay fever.
“Very few people will know the struggles she faces daily — the numerous hospital appointments, blood tests, medicines,.
