This Is Why I Give to NEA

My name is Angela Fox, and I live in Texas with my husband and two children. My nine-year-old son Cooper has severe eczema. He was diagnosed when he was 10-months-old.

This is, in my opinion, the hardest thing about living with eczema

The hardest thing about eczema has been watching my son hide in a shell and wither away before our eyes. There were times he was in so much pain he couldn’t move his limbs. He couldn’t regulate his own body temperature. 

We’ve struggled with finding the right treatment to work and continue working for Cooper. We live on the edge thinking, “When is that next shoe going to drop?” We’ve been down the road of so many medications that have failed to help him. 

As his mom, I wanted to fix it and I couldn’t. I felt a lot of guilt wondering, “Is it my fault? Is there something I did? Something I didn’t do?”

This is why I give to NEA

I donate to the National Eczema Association because without NEA my son might not be here. We found NEA when Cooper was four years old; we had been desperately searching for anything that would help him. We felt so isolated. 

We found community and support at NEA. It was eye-opening to meet other families going through what we were going through. 

As a researcher by profession, my husband wanted to understand the science behind eczema. At NEA we found the information and guidance we’d been looking for all in one place. My husband needed the science, and I needed the connection. We got both at NEA. 

We donate because NEA was the beacon and the light for our family during a very dark time.

This is my hope for the future of eczema

For everyone, I hope that in the future families with young babies have options for medications that are not so scary. That they don’t have to have the black box conversation about eczema treatment and worry about blood draws, liver function and future cancer risk when their baby is 10-months-old. 

For Cooper and our family, I don’t want to worry that an eczema medication I give my son today will hurt him in the long run. I want him to develop a higher self-esteem and a higher regard for people like him that struggle. I want Cooper to live a fulfilled life, and I don’t want eczema to run his life. I want him to understand that everybody has struggles, and his just happens to be his skin. I hope his eczema and his experiences inspire him to want to make other peoples’ lives better.

Consider making an end of year donation to the NEA Research Fund.