FPIES Awareness Char Contest - WINNERS!

FPIES Awareness Art Contest

Update 10/13: Everyone who enters but does not win a prize will recieve 1 credit for participating!

Character Reference Contest
20 EVC/2 million EVD available in prizes
Status:》CLOSED《 and deliberating.

Our Story:

The main reason that I have no contact with horses in my real life is because the vast majority of horses eat oats. You see, if I were to bring home traces of oats on my clothes or shoes, it could land my two very young daughters in the emergency room. My girls are allergic to oats.

What? you are thinking. Nobody is allergic to oats! Peanuts maybe, or milk, but oats...?

Yes, oats. And sweet potatoes. And mangoes. Also milk and soy, which are less rare. But then there is rice. And Xanthan Gum. I'll stop there, to keep reading this post from becoming an all-day endeavor for you. 

There are two things about food allergies that most people don't know:

First, a person can be allergic to any food. The Top 8 (tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, soy, dairy,  shellfish, wheat, fish) are just that - the TOP 8. When people are allergic to food, they are allergic to that food's unique proteins...and all food contains protein, from Sirloin to Iceberg lettuce. All living things, plant or animal, are made up of proteins, and therefore all foods have the potential to be an allergic trigger. 

Secondly, not all allergies are the same. The most commonly recognized allergy is an IgE moderated allergy  that results in severe cases in anaphylactic shock - a state that causes the throat, tongue and mouth to swell to the point of depriving a person from air. It's the kibd of food allergy you hear about, and the kind that requires an epinephrine injector as a life saving measure. There are other types of food allergies. My daughters' allergy involves their gastrointestinal system, and carries the risk of hypovolemic shock - a type of severe dehydration that causes the body to shut down due to an extremely low blood volume leading to an extremely low blood pressure.

How does it cause hypovolemic shock? Vomiting. Lots and lots of vomiting. Vomiting every 5 minutes for 2 hours until you faint. Vomiting like those of us who don't have gastrointestinal disorders will never experience.

And that gastrointestinal allergy, coupled with the resulting vomiting and the danger of hypovolemic shock, are the main hallmarks of Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome  (FPIES, pronounced F-pies).

There are no tests for what an FPIES kiddos triggers will be - you have to figure it out through deliberate food trials.

Since my girls are allergic to so many unusual things, they eat no processed food, we don't go to restaurants, and we have to be careful about where we go - since every normal kid eats Cheerios. We have to worry about weird things like the ingredients in Crayons, soap and toothpaste. We also make sure we are never too far from a hospital. Since their diets are so restricted, they drink an elemental formula to make sure they get all of their daily nutrients - it is a formula made in a laboratory so that it has no intact protein chains, but rather contains only amino acids.

But FPIES doesn't just make life difficult. 

FPIES makes you reevaluate: what if a necessary function that you take for granted - eating - was dangerous?

FPIES makes you redefine: what does it mean to be a kid without popsicles, Halloween candy, or birthday cake?

FPIES makes you appreciate: in spite of their struggles, my girls are strong, silly and kind. They are able - the oldest can read most of her 1st grade words at two years old, and the youngest can crawl perfectly and pull up with ease at 7 months. They are happy - even without cookies or ice cream or Trick or Treating or Easter candy. They are not "normal", but they are awesome kids, and it is wonderful to be their mom.

Most FPIES kids outgrow most or all of their triggers between ages 3 and 5. There are no guarantees, but we have our fingers crossed.

Since it is so rare - affecting about .34% of the population - I am doing my best to raise awareness for it whenever I can! The timing of this contest is due Global FPIES Awareness Day coming up on October 14, and Halloween's Teal Pumpkin Allergy Awareness campaign coming up as well.

The Awareness color for FPIES in the U.S is Teal.

Read more about FPIES here:
FPIES Foundation About FPIES

Chatting about FPIES: If you would like to know more about FPIES in general you may post the question here or message me; if you would like to know more about my kids or our life, message me privately.

Why this contest?

I love the art community here on EV, and I thought this contest would be a great way to spread awareness for this rare condition to a community that may otherwise never have heard of it, while also acquiring some art that I can use to support my strong, sweet girls in a public way while playing my favorite game!

Prizes:

Part 1: Character Prizes
First Prize: 10 Credits OR 1 Million EVD
Second Prize: 7 Credits OR 700k EVD
Third Prize: 3 Credits OR 300k EVD

Part 2: Tag Prizes
First Prize: 3 credits OR 300k EVD
Second Prize: 2 Credits OR 200k EVD

Requirements:

Effort: This piece of art is for something extremely important to me as a person, so I need to be able to tell your entry took you more than 5 minutes! Please do not just bucket-fill some free lines with teal and call it done.
 
Integrity: No cheating! I will not accept any entries that are stolen, improperly credited, "borrowed", are derivative works, appear on other websites, and so on. If you aren't sure if it's cheating it probably is.

Consideration: In all dealings with myself and others during the length of this contest, I expect all entrants to conduct themselves in a kind and considerate manner. I reserve the right to disqualify an entry based on the behavior of its artist on this thread or in private messages.

Dignity: This contest is meant to raise awareness - not to garner pity. Please don't tell me how sorry you are that my girls can't eat cookies and chicken nuggets! They are AWESOME kids, and if anything we need your support and encouragement, not your pity or apologies!

Equine: The character must be a horse.

Limited add-ons: Please express your creativity using the horse's coat, pattern, mane and tail. No wings, jewellery or clothing. Unicorn horns are permitted.

Teal: Teal is the FPIES Awareness Ribbon color. The whole design shouldn't be solid teal  - be creative! - but as this is an Awareness Character, teal should be prominent!

Digital Character Reference (part 1): Your entry must be a digitally drawn full-size character reference. No photo manipulations, traditional art, or, for part one, tags.

150x150 Digital Tag (part 2): All tag entries must be a150x150 digitally drawn (or pixelled) tag. Recolors are accepted as long as they are all-purpose (not seasonal, themed, etc.).

Rules:
1. Follow all Requirements as listed above. Horses and entrants that do not follow the Requirements will be disqualified.
2. You may use free or purchased lines if the line artist is properly credited.^a
3. You may resell non-winning entries for no more than 10 EVD OR 1 million credits, and if you tell the buyer something about FPIES!
4. You may submit more than one entry, and more than one entry by the same person may win a prize.^b
5. I own the winning entries, and I may resell them, have tags and other art made of them, or have them re-vamped at a later date at my discretion - your credit will always appear on future references.
6. If your entry is disqualified for not following the requirements, I will message you and give you a chance to edit it to meet the requirements.
7. If there is only one qualifying entry at the end of the contest (which I have the right to extend) I may award all 20 credits/2 million EVD (part 1) or all 5 credits/500k EVD (part 2) to ONE entry, or award the single entry the 1st place prize only, at my discretion.
_{a. I reserve the right to request proof of purchase or ownership in the case of purchased lines.
b. In theory, one person could win all 25 credits or all 2.5 million EVD.}

Questions & Answers:

None yet!

I promise not to become inactive; I am an extremely active player and responsible person, and I will award you for your hard work. 


Last edited on 2017-10-31 at 17:44:44 by North

What is FPIES? And can we use a base? 

This post is still under construction! Give me today to get it finished. ;) All will be explained! 

totally understand the food allergy struggle ( Eggs, nuts, and fishies; anaphylactic) and hope that they'll be able to grow out of this. Totally entering this and shall edit later with my entry.

Thanks Bela! Your art is BEAUTIFUL, I can't wait to see what you come up with!

And thanks for sharing about your Food Allergies! I am also anaphylactic (only to peanuts and bleu-type cheese), and although I have ever only had one full blown anaphylactic reaction, it is darn scary! And eggs has gotta suck - those things are everywhere. Stay strong and eat safe!

I can't wait to start this!! This is such a great idea North!!! It's AMAZING! Thank you and keep on playing strong!

Just throwing this out there but you don't necessarily have to have oats for horses, you need grass and hay, oats is mostly candy to them really. Only reason you would give them oats is because of it being winter or it was a old horse that needed supplements mixed into the grain etc. :] so if oats is why you're not getting a horse you can feed them just grass and hay.

Thanks Mic! I wish that were the only reason. Unfortunately we also live in the city, so I would have to take riding lessons or board a horse, and I unfortunately can't control what other people feed their horses. I do hope we can have our own horses someday and feed them safe-for-us foods.

Last edited on 2017-09-20 at 19:51:07 by North

Ooohf peanuts x.x I've had a few friends with that one and heard stories of so many more. I have that one too ( Since it's it's own category away from nuts now) But it's not anything major at all unless I ate a ton of them. Honestly, I'm not sure how I survived this long haha xD But I don't do eating out either. It's kind of nice though. You're saving money and you don't have to deal with people (much) hahaha.

So true! Eating out is spendy! We are saving for a house and back before kids, when we could  be lazy and eat out we never saved this much, lol!

Thats so true!! Its true in my family!! :D I have my entries

Pulling OUT

Last edited on 2017-10-16 at 18:15:05 by 🦇TornadoEllie🦇

I am working on a design.

-Will edit with entry-

No hurry at all everyone! There is over a month left and I promise I will not select any winners before October 31. :)

Last edited on 2017-09-21 at 17:37:48 by North

North: Aw I understand. :] of course, there are boarding stables where you can own your horse and board it and not allow it to be given grains because it is your horse etc but then you do have risk of coming around it because the stable having it in the feed room for other horses etc.