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Gluten Free Thanks for Giving contest winner announcement
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Courtesy of
There will be no gluten free soapbox today. Instead, it is my absolute honor to announce the winner of the Gluten Free Thanks for Giving Contest, sponsored by Marie Natural Botanicals.
A little while ago the word went out to send in your love stories. To give a shout out of recognition to someone who has made your life better. Now, after much contemplation and some tear jerking reads, I can tell you that the winner of the $75 gift basket, and admiration of all is:
Mary Mulligan, nominated by her daughter, Amy McKibbin. Here is the winning entry:
I’d like to nominate my mom, Mary Milligan, for making my gluten-free life easier. Here’s my story:
Only a few months after having my son Owen, our first child, I suddenly had a terrible gallbladder attack – something I had never experienced in my life. My mom, while visiting us in Colorado, took care of Owen while my husband rushed me to the ER. After a terrible night filled with test after test – they concluded my gallbladder wasn’t functioning properly. A few days later I was sent for a colonoscopy and endoscopy – to see if there was another root cause.
The next day I received a call that would change certain aspects of my life forever – they were pretty sure I had celiac disease, and were just waiting for the results. “Ok…” I responded tentatively to the nurse on the other end of the phone, “celiac disease, what does that mean?” As she began to outline for me the steps to eliminating gluten, I was suddenly shocked and confused. How could this be? How could food cause a disease? What would I eat? As a self-proclaimed “carb-queen” this seemed impossible. The nurse suggested I try to research, and then start, my gluten-free journey while waiting for final confirmation. She explained once they were sure that I had celiac disease, the best way to avoid contamination would be to meet with a nutritionist. Contamination? Nutritionist? It all seemed overwhelming. I had a new baby – how could I possibly handle making such drastic changes?
With all of this going on, we were due to fly back to the East Coast with my mom – for our family back home to meet Owen for the first time. I concluded that with the Italian restaurants my friends and family loved, and with all the stress of traveling, I’d deal with the gluten issue when I got back. But my mom had other ideas. Once we landed on the East Coast, my mom promptly drove me to Trader Joe’s. While we don’t have them in Colorado, I knew it to be similar to Whole Foods. That’s where my knowledge ended.
As we entered the store, my mom handed me a printed out list of everything gluten free that Trader Joe’s offers. Glutino, Amy’s lunch meals, Pamala’s cookies – it was if she had grown up on these brands that seemed completely foreign to me — and she knowingly maneuvered around the store to locate anything that sounded good to me. As we left I was still in utter shock that a gluten-free world existed, never mind that my mom seemed to be an expert in that area.
We spent the day catching up with friends and family while I ate the snacks and meals mom had discovered. I was able to survive the first few days of travel with our new son – without even thinking about my new diagnosis.
Two days later I received the call, confirmation through biopsies and blood work, that I indeed had celiac disease. I cried and cried. It seems silly now – but I couldn’t imagine how this was going to work. My husband and I loved to eat out. I didn’t cook. Where would I get food? What on earth could I eat? That day would continue to prove difficult – my friends wanted to go out for pizza. I refused to make them change their plans, so ended up skipping lunch. They tried to find something on the menu I could eat – but the chef explained their kitchen just didn’t offer a “safe, gluten-free environment.” I thought feeding Owen was hard enough, I just didn’t want to deal with this new challenge.
I headed back to my mom’s house that night, stomach grumbling. We hugged as I sobbed about this horrible, annoying diagnosis. She didn’t say much but instead, perked up and exclaimed, “why don’t you come sit down for dinner!” I started to protest – thinking about the fact that she probably cooked with a sauce that contained gluten, or one of the other million ways people are contaminated. That’s when she handed me three cook gluten-free cook books. She had bought a set for me to take home, and a set for herself, so she could learn to cook gluten free too. I walked into the dining room, and there was mom’s first gluten-free meal spread on the table; chicken breaded with gluten-free corn flakes, gluten-free bread made from scratch, vegetables and gluten-free brownies for dessert. We sat down and dug in. “This tastes “normal!” My husband exclaimed. We all laughed. “Of course it’s normal,” my mom chuckled. Suddenly the diagnosis didn’t seem horrible. Annoying, yes, but thanks to my mom, that night, after so recently being diagnosed, I realized my disease was far from the worst thing in the world. I could be healthy, happy and continue to focus on Owen – all while just making a few changes to my diet.
I went home with a new outlook (and some new snacks for the plane ride home – from mom of course.) Almost 1 year later, I am now happily gluten free, and I hardly think about it. My gallbladder attacks have subsided, and secondary effects from the disease – like my anemia, are now gone.
As for my mom, she is in the process of moving out to Colorado. During her most recent visit, in the midst of house hunting, one of the first things she did was go to my favorite gluten free bakery and fill my freezer with baked goodies that can be hard to find. Going gluten free can be hard – but for me – it was hard for about two days. I wanted to write this essay to thank my mom for her “can-do” attitude, love and support.
Congratulations to both Mary and Amy! I'd like to thank everyone who entered a loved one in the contest. The outpourings of love have been truly inspirational. The other top five winning entries will be posted here on Examiner within the week. Thanks for Giving Everyone!
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