From two months of age, Rhiannon has lived with allergies. Now, she's on the hunt for a cure

Dr Rhiannon Grant's earliest memories involve living with allergies.

Grant, 28, was a child growing up in the NSW city of Wollongong when allergies first impacted her life.

"From when I was a couple of months old I suffered from eczema," she told nine.com.au.

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"It was on my face and most of my body as well. I grew up having to go to sleep every night with wet cloths and bandages all over my body and socks on my hands so I couldn't scratch [myself] during the night."

Childhood impact

Simple things other children take for granted, such as swimming lessons or going for sleepovers, were difficult.

"I do have a memory of having a sleepover in primary school. People would prank each other and put toothpaste on their faces while they were asleep, and someone did that to my face and I got quite rashy and irritated," Grant said.

As she got older, her primary school and teenage years were marked by recurrent staph infections caused by germs entering her damaged skin.

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At one point, doctors placed her on antibiotics for three years to prevent further infections.

As Grant got older, she learned how to take better care of her skin by moisturising regularly, applying her steroid creams and avoiding triggers.

But eczema was not the only allergic illness that affected her life. She also suffered from asthma and food allergies – something she shared with two of her three sisters, as well as her father, aunty and uncle.

By the time she was one, Grant was diagnosed with food allergies to nuts, eggs, dairy, peas and potato, although this was later pared back to nuts, eggs and dairy.

Life-threatening allergies

Despite the potentially life-threatening nature of her food allergies, she doesn't recall it being made a big issue until she went to school.

"It wasn't something that I had any distinct memories of until primary school and not being able to eat cake at school, and realising I have to carry an EpiPen around with me, and coming to realise how it was going to impact my life," she said.

With allergies playing such a big part in the lives of Grant and her family members, it made sense she would one day turn it into a career.

"I was always interested in science from when I was young," she said.

"At Christmas and family gatherings, we always ended up talking about allergies and why people get allergies.

"With so many of my family members having allergies, and always being in and out of specialist appointments my whole life, it was always a point of curiosity."

Passion for research

Realising she could take her "passion" for wanting to understand why some people get allergies, she decided to become an allergy researcher.

Grant completed a Bachelor of Science (Medical Biotechnology) at Wollongong University, and Honours at the Garvan Institute/UNSW in Sydney, before relocating to Melbourne where she earned a PhD at Monash University.

She is now based at Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, where she is an allergy researcher – a role she has held since July last year.

Terrifying incident

It was there she suffered a terrifying anaphylaxis incident just last month while on her lunch break.

A co-worker sitting nearby was eating a salad that contained satay dressing, when some of it must have splashed in her food.

Within moments, her throat became irritated and she started feeling faint and had breathing difficulties.

After realising she was suffering anaphylaxis – a potentially deadly allergic reaction – she alerted her colleagues, including the Institute's allergy nurses, who sprang into action.

Despite having severe reactions before, it was the first time Grant had needed to use an EpiPen.

"It is quite scary thinking you are going to use this needle, which is quite big, but it actually wasn't as painful as I was expecting," she said.

She said having been trained on how to administer it and knowing "exactly what to do", helped her stay calm. But even with this swift action, she still required a trip to emergency for monitoring.

It was a sobering reminder of why she has devoted her life not just to looking for a cure, but supporting other allergy sufferers.

Becoming a mentor

Since 2023, Grant has volunteered as a peer mentor at the National Allergy Council, a support-based organisation that also runs Allergy 250K Camps.

The camps support the 250,000 children and young adults in Australia who live with allergies.

The organisation runs separate camps each year for school-aged children and young adults.

"We do yearly camps throughout Australia that will be the first opportunity for some young kids to spend a night away from home because they have such severe food allergies," Grant said.

"Also, they get to meet other kids who have severe food allergies, [where] maybe they haven't met anyone like them before.

"[They can] also meet adults, people like me, so [they] can hopefully realise that, 'Yes, I have severe food allergies but I can still go travelling, I can still get a good job'.

"It's about sharing our experiences with young people."

Attending the camps also reminds Grant why she is so focused on her work.

Search for a cure

"I really want to understand what factors shape allergy development – why do we get allergies in the first place?" she said.

"And ultimately improve prevention strategies so babies born today don't have the same experiences, and that we can use evidence to guide therapies and guide preventions and also develop treatment options."

Of course, research costs money.

The federal government recently announced $14.6 million in additional funding to the National Allergy Centre of Excellence (NACE) and the National Allergy Council (NAC).

NACE, which is based at Murdoch Children's Research Institute, where Grant works, will use its portion of the funding to accelerate its national allergy research, while NAC will continue to fund public health programs to support the 8.2 millions Australians living with allergic disease.

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