Jo Frost Speaks On Life-Threatening Anaphylaxis Diagnosis

In a moving and very private moment, Supernanny Jo Frost is coming out with her own quiet battle with a life-threatening condition she's lived with for years--anaphylaxis. The 55-year-old parenting expert, whose no-nonsense advice and calm authority reigned on the hit ABC show from 2005 through 2011 and again, briefly, in last year's revival, has revealed a lifelong battle with severe food allergies.

In an emotional post on Instagram on July 12, Frost revealed that she's experienced numerous anaphylactic shocks in her life more than she's comfortable publicly admitting. "I suffer from anaphylaxis," she wrote bluntly, "a life-threatening medical condition to certain foods that will compromise my body so horrifically to the point of hospitalization."

Her post was a call to action. By lending a face to this hidden disease, she'd like to promote understanding, education, and compassion for others who have the heart-wrenching experience of watching their diet friends and peers sicken and die from an allergy that is much more than a tummy ache. "Absolute millions of my community around the world, children and adults, live cautiously and anxiously navigating this journey with not nearly enough compassion, education, and empathy from those who do not," she continued. "Today, everyone will know someone or someone who knows of one with anaphylaxis."

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Frost's openness emerges at a time of heightened awareness of food allergies, yet also one of continued stigma and misunderstanding. And while for many people, allergies are merely an irritating inconvenience, as her experience attests, anaphylaxis is a systemic emergency. The response unfolds over minutes or even seconds and often requires immediate hospitalization. For Frost, those who live with this condition, every meal is a risk. Every bite could be deadly.

The openness with which Frost speaks, as a figure of trust in millions of households, provides a vital voice to the conversation. She reminds us that strength is about raising one's hand and speaking, even if it's uncomfortable. By telling her own truth, Jo Frost is fighting not just for herself, but for the countless others who have to travel this road every day silently, tentatively, and often invisibly. And in the process, she proves that the true superpower is the power of speaking out.