Our Story

Hi. I’m Emily. From the time I was born until I was 9 years old, I had an emergency-room-level dairy allergy. An allergy so severe that if there was cheese on a grill at a restaurant, and my food touched the grill, I could wind up with breathing problems and nausea. When I was 8, my family and I decided I should start a program called Oral Immunotherapy, or OIT, with Dr. Manning (he’s the one in that photo up there with my nurse, Laura). The purpose of the program was to slowly desensitize me to dairy. Once a week I would go to the doctor’s office, and they would give me milk in doses that increased each week. Towards the beginning of my treatment, my allergy was so severe that I was only drinking 0.1 ml of watered-down milk. When I was 9 years old, after a long 9 months of OIT, I had been worked up to 8 ounces, or 1 cup. At this point I was considered “graduated.” This was where the ice cream tour began!

 

My parents always used to tell me that when I could have ice cream, they would take me out and I could have however many scoops I wanted. I always fantasized about foot high ice cream cones. But I never knew when that might be. It could have been at my next doctors appointment, or I could be in high school and still just as allergic. But, I got lucky, and I was given the opportunity to go through OIT.

 

The night I graduated, my family went to the Baskin Robbins for my first real ice cream. (The photo on the right is from that night!) I loved it. As good as dairy-free ice cream is, it can’t compare to that first bite of Baskin Robbins. How the ratings came up, I don’t even remember. But over the 3 years we’ve been eating ice cream, it has become a tradition. The original, Baskin Robbins, was of course, a 10. What started as just a fun family tradition, and a lot of ice cream (Over 70 places to date since September 2017, including ones in several states and countries) officially turned into the “Arizona Ice Cream Tour” in Spring of 2020.

 

Besides finding the best ice cream around, my goal is to use AZ Ice Cream Tour to support other people going through OIT. It changed my life and I’d like to help others have the same opportunity that I did. It was a weight lifted off my shoulders, not having to constantly be looking out for even the smallest traces of dairy. I don’t want people to have to go through that, and if nothing else not for as long.

 

In the meantime, check out my ratings! We love to give out suggestions and having been to so many shops, we’ve found the best. Also, feel free to leave us suggestions! We’re always looking for new places to visit and rate.

 

Check out the feature below that AZ Family did about me in July 2020!