Immunotherapy, desensitisation, allergen vaccination, allergy ‘shots’, subcutaneous injection immunotherapy (SIT), you’re probably not bothered about what it’s called but just want to know whether this treatment will provide long-term relief from some of the debilitating symptoms of allergies? Andrée Kuypers searches for some answers.

“The impact of Molly having asthma attacks nightly, the futility of everything we tried, the never ever getting an evening to ourselves —it all took an enormous toll. It is hugely stressful to parent a sick kid, and unbearably hard to feel absolutely helpless in the face of it.”

These heart wrenching words are from Molly’s mother, Susi Maclean of Christchurch, who was desperate to find answers and put together the pieces of a puzzle that had been baffling her family for too long. Susi shares her story and the journey they embarked on with their daughter.

Molly suffered from chronic ill health: asthma, a constant stuffy nose and sinusitis. Finding answers to Molly’s health problems in Christchurch proved to be very difficult.
“We heard a lot from frustrated health care providers along the lines of, she’s just a highly atopic child; there’s nothing you can do but manage it [and] you’re doing all you can,” Susi says.

Their journey to improve Molly’s health eventually brought them to Auckland, and under the care of immunologist Dr Rohan Ameratunga Molly started immunotherapy.
Susi says Molly’s eczema and asthma began to improve and she was having fewer food reactions too, although they didn’t see much in the way of results for a number of months.

“People started commenting on how Molly had never looked so well before,” Susi says.
“After three to four months of weekly trips to Auckland we began to see our GP locally for the monthly maintenance shots. She just got better and better over that time. I can’t stand to add up what it has cost – but I would do it over again in a heartbeat.”

Immunotherapy changed Molly’s life, but is it effective and is a long, intense course of injections going to be the right course of treatment for everyone?

Excerpted from the Winter 2007 issue of Allergy Today. To order that issue or to subscribe to Allergy Today, click here.