The I Can't Eat "THAT" Club!

This is a letter from my son, I was wondering if you all could forward this to whomever you feel might be able to help him. I am very proud of his efforts with this Club. It was 100% his idea! It has been very good for him and others!

Thanks, Laurie Renke

Hi, I'm Max! I am 8 years old and I am in the 3rd grade at Matthew Thornton School in Londonderry, New Hampshire. I am a Bear Cub Scout (I even went to Cub Scout Camp this summer at Camp Carpenter), I play the piano, I play soccer and baseball, and I ski with my family at Ragged Mt. In Danbury, NH (My dad is on the Ski Patrol there, that's cool), and my favorite things are collections, drawing, and I love to invent things (I have gone to Camp Invention for two years now). I love my family and have lots of fun with my friends. My best friends name is Ethan, besides my brother Jake that is! Oh, and by the way, I have Celiac Disease (In short I can not eat GLUTEN, not even a crumb) and I started a club called; The I Can't Eat "THAT" Club for kids like me.

As you can see, being on a special diet and not being able to eat certain foods has not slowed me down or kept me from being involved in all types of fun things. I even went to Camp Celiac 2000 where I met lots of kids with Celiac Disease. It was a great place to feel "safe" about the food we ate, and just be kids. I can't wait to go back next year.

My club is NOT just for kids with Celiac Disease however. It is for any school aged child who must be on ANY TYPE OF SPECIAL DIET and for any other school aged child who wants to help support us by understanding that we are just kids, and we want to have fun, regardless of our food related issues. We want everyone to feel welcome!

Our first club meeting was in September of 2000 and it was a great day to meet each other and learn about what different diets (or the same) we were all required to be on to be healthy. We played games and made friends. It was a lot of fun!

In October 2000 we had our first "Candy-Free" Halloween Party. NO FOOD ALLOWED! But we didn't miss it one bit. We learned that Halloween is not just about the Candy; much more goes into making it fun! I was a Robot, I Invented my costume myself. We played games and had many treats (non-food treats of course). We even decided that this was better because we were able to have the toys and stuff for more than just one night! Our 2nd Annual "Candy-Free" Halloween Party will be soon, I can't wait. I will be Inspector Gadget this year; he likes to make all types of inventions too! Remember I told you that I don't let my food issues stop me from having fun?

I know the whole world is not going to stop eating Pizza because I cannot have Gluten (wheat) or Cheese (Because of the damage my undiagnosed Celiac Disease caused in my small intestine, I can not have any milk products either). But people can become aware enough about our issues to help us to not feel so different when we go places. Learn not to say things that hurt our feelings or are just plain dumb, or dangerous. There is also a great safety concern with well meaning people who do not understand that ONE "special treat" or slip up can be very dangerous. I am very interested in helping to raise awareness of food related issues.

My family and I have come up with many great ways to work with my issues, allowing me to be involved in many things and not miss out on the non-food part of everyday things. We believe that ATTITUDE has a lot to do with how hard things are for us on a day-to-day basis and especially at special event, such as Birthday parties and school functions that involve eating. One example is the box that my club put in our principle's office (full of non-food treats), for teachers to come to take for their students who have restricted diets when passing out food treats to the class. And a letter we sent to all the teachers in our school reminding them to think about non-food rewards from time to time. Food is everywhere, but does not need to be the center of attention all the time and I am hoping to help others understand this, regardless of whether they need to be on a special diet or not.

Sure, it is hard at times, but the alternative for me is being very very sick again. Too sick to even play soccer, like the year I had to take off after my diagnosis. I'm not going there again! The Gluten was destroying the part of my digestive system, which absorbs the nutrients from foods I was eating. I was eating bucket loads of food each day, yet I had complete malnutrition (I had zero villi left in my small intestines) and severe osteoporosis that my back was starting to deform slightly and the doctors were concerned that my bones would start to break if I played sports. This is when I started to take Piano lessons. See, my ATTITUDE was, if I cannot play sports, what else could I do? If my mother had not have pushed the doctors for more testing, stating that she knew that my being so skinny was not because of a fast metabolism, I would not be here today to write this letter. So, now I stay on my special diet, I am feeling great and the doctors say I am very healthy.

I hope to help other kids start, The I Can't Eat "THAT" Club in their town.

I hope to share some of the things we have done in our club, at home and at school, to make things "safe" and easier for me and others to have fun and not miss out on life because of our food restrictions.

Here are some of my goals.

1. I would like to introduce my club idea to school aged children.
2. I would like to help raise awareness of food-restricted diets, not just Celiac Disease.
3. Raise awareness of what Celiac Disease is, as Celiac Disease is misdiagnosed for many other things and this is totally unnecessary. This is a very dangerous awareness issue.
4. Help other children and adults understand that fun doesn't always need to involve food. Perhaps companies or the public will donate non-food treats to a huge box for all the local clubs to share with all the local schools.
5. Help others develop a strong positive ATTITUDE about their restrictive diets and hold the health benefits above the sad feelings that can be present.
6. Provide information to the public about the different ways that they can help to be compassionate towards people like me.
7. Provide information to people on restrictive diets, that anger towards people who do not understand is unnecessary. At the present time the general population has not been educated about these concerns. I hope to help change this.
8. I hope to help others understand that expecting people who are not on restricted diets to stop eating in front of us is very unrealistic and can cause many issues for both parties. Again, this is all in the ATTITUDE!
9. Provide ideas, hints and tricks on helping ourselves and others make parties, special occasions and everyday easier for kids like me. Helping others find non-food alternatives to games, rewards and surprises. Not to say that no food will be present, that won't happen, but from time to time it would be healthier for everyone in the world, not just kids like me.
10. I would like to raise enough money to pass out Alexander the Elephant Coloring Books to all children in schools. Alexander is an Elephant who cannot eat peanuts. There is also a video that goes along with this title. This would be great for schools too.
11. I hope to have an I Can't Eat "THAT" club book or coloring book someday too!
12. I hope to provide an opportunity for other clubs to purchase T-shirts like mine that say "The I Can't Eat "THAT" Club". The logo has a funny-faced man with sunglasses on and many different types of foods that cause food related issues, like eggs, peanut, wheat, milk, etc.. It is a really cool design that my friend Britton's (club member) mom designed for our club last year. My doctor even wants one!
13. I would like to print up posters about our club idea to post at Doctor's offices and other places.

If you are able to help me with any of the above goals please contact my mother at her E-mail address at Laurie@accessp.com. Thank you for your time to read my story and learn about my club.

Have a great day and please try to remember that ATTITUDE is the key!

God Bless, Max Renke

Email : Laurie Renke

Snail Mail or send Free Samples(Non-food items only!) :
The I Can't Eat "THAT" Club
C/O Laurie Renke
PO BOX 1070
Londonderry, NH 03053-1070