A piece of the puzzle into my life long study and research into deadly peanut and other allergies. It made our journey only more fascinating and challenging. We never made the allergies a reason to limit ourselves. Instead we went on an adventure.

September 2010, Rabat

Dear Doctor Pamela Ewan,

My daughter, 13 years is deadly allergic for peanuts.
While writing a book about the life with such a child and the positive challenge for us in our expatriate life, living around the world, I am very much interested and triggered by your research.
Where can I find information about your work at the Addenbroke Hospital, the articles in Allergy journal.
While screening the internet, it is still so difficult to get to know the real situation today.
My list of concerns and questions is long and dramatic but foremost I would like to know more about the eventual possibilities for a teen like my daughter to participate in the research you manage at Cambridge University.
Are there, if not possible to get involved, other locations in Europe where they do similar research with children in the way your team does? Is there a follow up to your work?
I discovered some similar issues at Duke University in the United States.

Sincerely,  Pauline M. Martin
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Dear Ms Martin
We have a preliminary paper in Allergy 2009 (Clark, A., Islam, S., King, Y., Deighton, J., Anagnostou, K., Ewan, P., 2009.  Successful oral tolerance induction in severe peanut allergy.  Allergy, 64,1218-20) but the main paper on this study is submitted and under consideration. The study has gone well – 19 of 21 getting to top dose (maintenance daily dose is 5 peanuts a day and many passing a larger challenge test) and the other 2, whilst not reaching the planned top dose of peanut, had some increase in the amount of peanut they could tolerate. We have learned a lot – one aspect is the huge impact on quality of life. The treatment has been transforming. 

There are other studies in Germany (Kirsten Bayer), as well as USA (Prof Wesley Burkes’). 

Our latest study which involves about 100 patients is fully subscribed and underway (it started earlier this year), will take nearly 3 years to complete. These studies require a large number of attendances here. Whilst we may do further studies nothing is planned at present beyond the current one. I need to emphasise this is research and we need more data, but our hope is, that if successful, this may eventually be offered as a treatment. 

Kind regards
Pamela Ewan

Dr Pamela Ewan
Allergy Dept
Addenbrookes
Hills Road
Cambridge, UK
CB2 2QQ
Tel   +44 1223 217777
Fax  +44 1223 21695