Welcome to iHeartRadio Communities, a public affairs special focusing on the biggest issues in facting you this week.
Here's Many Munos.
And welcome to another edition of Iheartradios Communities. As you heard, I am Manny Munyo's We've all heard the cliche about movies, right, It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, It's a heartwarming story.
You know what I'm talking about.
Well, if you're a dog person, or even if you're not a dog lover, all of those that are can relate. I want to tell you about a movie. It's titled Abbey's List, a documentary. It is streaming now everywhere, and I want to bring on Mark Sutherland. He's director and the human in the movie Abbey's List, a Documentary. You can also follow it on Instagram at Abby's List.
Mark. I appreciate the time, Thanks for joining us.
Thanks many. What can I say? It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry.
Well, even I remember when I had first seen just the trailer alone. I knew where the movie was headed, I knew what the movie was about, and so I had tears in my eyes watching the trailer as I'm laughing, as I'm crying. So it's one of those special movies. Tell us about it first. The film again, Abby's List, a documentary, is about your whippet, Abby and the journey you decided to go on with her when you realize that your time as her dog dad was probably pretty soon going to be coming to an end.
Yeah, and I should mention too that, you know, I think one of the reasons the film is working, and you know, it was picked up by AMC Theaters for a national release in like twenty three cities and the rest of it, and it's going to be and it's streaming now too. I think one of the reasons it's working is because we didn't set out to make a film.
I just wanted an excuse to spend some time with my dog because I thought that that she was probably nearing the end of her life at fourteen, and I lost two other whippets at thirteen, and so we started. We went sailing, and I put a camera in front of her, and I put her behind the wheel of the yacht, this big, beautiful wooden sailing ship, and I
let her steer it. And I was pretty sure she was enjoying herself, but I really didn't realize how much she was enjoying until we got home and looked at the footage, and I've never seen her so happy, And I was just like, you know what, it gives me chills still to think about it, Like, you know what, we need to do more of this sort of thing. Let's just have some fun. And I'm an old radio guy, so when I think of having fun, I think of
ridiculous stuff. Like first thing we did was we drove to Sequoia National Forest so she could tea on the world's color trees. You know, this is the way my warped mind thinks. But we were just going to make some fun Facebook videos and share them with friends and maybe do a short, you know, documentary, and then call it quit. We figured it would take us three weeks
to cross the country. And what happened was we noticed almost immediately that Abby started aging in reverse, and then we went crazy viral to the tune of like five million views all across the world, and we went, you know, what's something magical is happening here, And so we just kept on going and kept on doing things together, and ultimately three weeks became three years, and we made a film out of it.
How did you decide on some of the places that you were going to go on with Abby? You call it her bucket list. You went, you went to the Disney World and SeaWorld. You took her to Vegas. Uh, she went to the Columbus Zoo, got to meet Jack Hannah Tag.
Jack was her pet sitter.
How did you come up with some of these things?
Well, I'm pretty sure there was alcohol involved, But you know, I sat down with a friend or two, some some creative friends, and we, you know, we had a laugh and had a drink or two and talked about the fun stuff that a dog might like to do. I'm using air quotes when I say dog, because you know, the guise of a dog, but also kind of fun stuff that people would like to do too. And what's interesting is so we started out doing some of that over the top stuff because the humor is in the
absurdity of it all. You can't just go to Vegas. You had to get a three thousand dollars night sweet and let her do room service, you know, and play lots and all the rest of the stuff that dogs wouldn't normally do. You have to go to Disneyland or Disney World and she has to ride it's a small world, so you can watch her face and see if she looks like, you know, like a childhood when you're seeing that for the first time. And so we made a list of a couple of these sort of things, and
then we just figured it out as we went. We found stuff that we thought we'd be entertained by, and then we also found stuff that we knew she'd love. And the funny thing was that she even loved the ridiculous stuff that, you know, like ping on the world's tallest tree. You could tell she knew that she was doing something rather impressive, and you know, so it's that
sort of stuff, you know. That's how we came up with the stuff and how it all came together, and we were basically for a lot of it, we were just flying by the seat of our pants.
How did you manage to actually do some of the things. You did get the celebs to be part of the film or was it easy? Because dog lovers, those of us that loved dogs were kind of our own community, So you managed to get approval to do some of these things just because of.
That little bit of both. I knew Bill farmer. Bill's been the voice of Goofy for Disney for the last thirty eight years now, and I thought it would be funny if Abby met the world's most famous dog. And the great part about the scene with Bill is she's literally meeting the most famous dog in the world and she could care less you know her, He does the voice and her eyes just roll, and to me, that's
just hilarious. So like in that instance, Bill said, yeah, sure, I'll do it, and he trusted me with this bizarre idea that might have really flopped but actually ended up really good. With the Jack Hannah thing. I actually tried to get in touch with him a couple of times because I'd known him years ago, and I couldn't get through his wall of people. And then I just randomly ran into him doing voiceover at a production company in Columbus, Ohio, and he said, how are you What have you been
up to? I'm so like, are you kidding me? I've been trying to get in touch with you. And I told him about what I'd been shooting and he said, how can I help? And so again there are other forces at work here. We planned stuff as well as we could, bumped into people like I ran into Scott Simpson, PGA pro and asked him if you'd let Abby caddy for him on the golf course for a day. And I didn't know him from Adam, but he said yes
because he loves dogs and thought it sounded fun. And so back to what you said, there were some people that just bought in just because they're just such fan of dogs and this sounded a little ridiculous and a little fun, and so they trusted me, and I'm just so grateful that it's turned out so well.
We're speaking with Mark Sutherland. He is the director and the human in the movie Abbey's List, a documentary. It is streaming everywhere right now. You can also check the film out on Instagram at Abby's List. You've mentioned a couple of times that you spent years in radio broadcasting. You actually even helped launch radio Disney did. How did that history, that experience help you into putting your experience with Abby on film and telling her story.
So when I I did local radio for years Ohio and Orlando and and Houston Morning Radio, and I learned local radio there, and of course I learned how to do bits, which is really just storytelling just in a
you know, shorter segment. When I moved out to Los Angeles and helped build Radio Disney, I did the afternoon show there for the first five years of the network, and I learned how the big machine works, you know, the Hollywood machine, the because you know, there's a level or two above the local stuff, and in local we interact with it, but we don't necessarily know how it works. And I learned better how that works. The other thing was I just really learned a little more about stories.
It's like everything that you do, you're telling stories. Every single day, you're telling stories, and so when you're in radio, you're in the trenches and you know how to tell a story. They maybe three minutes in lenk, maybe five minutes, maybe thirty seconds, but every one of them has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and then the challenge is to try to figure out how that translates to an overall story arc of the film. And so I just
sort of had to toy with that. And what I did with the film was I shot these little segments that were again take We drove four hours north, and the challenge was to get Abby to pee on one of the tallest trees in the world. And so we had a beginning, we had a middle, and we knew what we were striving for. The end was if she actually did it. And we built this fund and this trauma up in between, you know, the beginning and the end,
and that was a little story in itself. And so I had about by the time the film was done, I had about fifteen of those little stories. And then I had to work the story arc, which I knew what had happened, but you still have to figure out a way to pressage stuff in. Like we went to Canada, but we actually I took her to ca Hannada three separate times, to camp on this private island three separate times that summer, noticed just an unbelievable change in her
up there out in the wilderness. But for story purposes, I melded all of that into one week for the film, just because it was too complicated bouncing back and forth. So there was a lot of that too. I'm probably getting in the weeds fars the whole thing, but anyway, that's part of what the whole Disney thing taught me as well.
So there's telling stories and stories are meant to touch different emotions.
Right.
You talked about some of the funny stuff in the film, there's also some incredibly touching stuff. There's there's Abby meeting Trooper, who was a three legged deer. There's Abby going to SeaWorld and how all the dolphins there seemed entranced by her just staring at her there across the glass. Just briefly touch on the different emotions and those two scenes in the movie.
Yeah, Well the dolphin scene just had us all amazed even and in fact, when we left, we were just praying that we'd be able to capture what we saw and what we captured on film that would be able to translate that in the edit, because it was so amazing that these dolphins all ignored all the people over there to our left, and all of them went right to abbey and just stayed there for five ten minutes.
It was just it made me cry when we were watching it, and really gave me sort of hope for animals and for life, and you know what I mean, for people and animals are good. And Trooper was a We found out about this three legged deer that had been injured when it was young, and and so it had been raised by people, and so it was still tame.
So I took Abby to meet Trooper, and while we were with Trooper, we realized that Trooper needed help because Tripper was having troubles with the local authorities, or at least had, and the deer in Ohio we're really, you know, having some problems with the state not letting injured ones
be rehabbed, and we found out about that. And the cool thing about that segment was not only hurt getting able to beat this deer, but realizing that most of these segments other people are doing something for us or that sort of thing, but in this segment we were able to give back. Abby was able to do something for Trooper, to raise awareness for the whole Trooper thing.
So once again you just get this just an amazing scene and a warm and fuzzy and something that the film can do for somebody else, which gives it a little bit of depth and of course makes us feel good as human beings to be able to do that.
Going back to the fact that again those of us that are dog lovers are our own community. If you know, you know, if you will right, you've said, the journey prolonged Abby's life that she started reverse aging in reverse. The journey also did something for you. What did it help you learn about yourself, about life, about humanity?
Uh, simplify. You know, I'd lived out in Los Angeles for twenty years. I'm living in Ohio now. I moved back here to care for my mom, who had Alzheimer's, and she actually just passed away a few months ago. So I cared for Abby in her old age and then cared for mom. But it taught me to simplify and focus and how important friends are, and also to get off the couch and live life now.
Not to ruin the movie, This isn't a spoiler, Abby, Abby is no longer with us.
How how long ago did she pass? How was that?
And for those of us that have lived, how did you deal with it? Especially after you know this incredible experience that you had with her during the journey.
It was tough, I mean, to say the least. I think one of the reasons the film was so powerful is because for months I was editing the film, and she'd come to work with me every day and she'd lay on the couch there while I was editing. So I'd be editing, but sometimes through tears because I could watch her really go downhill because we didn't do much, you know, for the last six months of her life. She died at almost seventeen.
That was back in great life for any dog.
Yeah, And we started, we started when she was fourteen years old, and again we thought maybe she'd be around a couple of months, and she ended up living almost three more years, which again is just almost unheard of.
Mark Sutherland, director and the human in the movie titled Abbey's List, a documentary.
It is streaming everywhere right now.
Follow it on Instagram at Abby's List. Whether you're a dog lover or not, I guarantee you this movie will touch you.
Mark.
I appreciate the time, thank you for doing this film and continued success to.
You and the movie.
Manny, Thank you so much.
It's amazing to think about, but roughly one in ten Americans are living with life threatening food allergies. Doctors call it a silent public health epidemic. Tens of millions of others live with food allergies I imagine, which are more of a major inconvenience or annoyance than deadly. To bring in an expert to discuss it, doctor Sung publicly is CEO of Food Allergy Research and Education.
Doctor. I appreciate you joining.
Us, Thank you for having me.
I know the FDA just issued some new guidance on food allergies things like that. I want to get to that in a moment, but let me start off with this. Explain who FAIR is Food Allergy Research and Education and what the organization does.
Food Allergy Research and Education is the largest nonprofit organization here in the United States, focusing on research, education, and advocacy. In other words, we are curing food allergies for the more than thirty three million Americans.
I don't want to age myself, but when I was growing up in the seventies and eighties, I don't think I knew anybody who had a peanut allergy, or milk or wheat allergy. Nobody had ever heard of gluten or celliac disease, any of these things. How did all of this become so prominent in our society?
You know, it's really about eating early and eating often. Our doctors had given some advice to parents stating that you should avoid giving us certain foods until later in life, and more than recently we've kind of reversed that and said, okay, we should give certain food proteins now earlier during four to six months, and introduce these proteins early and often. So, for instance, penuts, if you introduce it during the ages of four to six months, you will decrease the chance
that this infant will not develop peanut allergies. So yeah, by eighty percent. So we've had these studies now showcasing that if you introduced proteins early and often, you can prevent these types of allergies. So we've sort of like you know, told parents not to introduce.
Them to figure out how to solve it, I.
Know exactly. And of course there's also the germ theory, right. You know, back when we were growing up, we were making mud pies. Yeah, we were producing ourselves lots of germs, and so our immune system, you know, recognize germs and our immune system was able to fight that.
I almost feel like that's what this is what happens when we try to wrap our kids in bubble wrap to protect them, we create these problems that we don't necessarily anticipate.
Absolutely, and so you know, when our immune system doesn't recognize a food protein as a food protein. Instead, it sees it as a ford invader, and our immune system just goes haywire and attack it as a foreign invader, and you have this anaphylactic reaction. And that's what's going on within our bodies and our immune system.
Is there a difference between a food allergy and a food intolerance or just sensitivities.
For example, Absolutely, because when you have an intolerance, you're not, you know, developing the worst case scenario, a anaphylaxis, because anaphylaxis can kill you if you do not intervene with an epinephrine. And epinephrine now, thank goodness, doesn't only come in an injection. There's also a nasal spray. And uh, thank you for individuals that are afraid of needles like myself, I'm happy to give an injection to anyone except for myself.
I've known people who have had absolute nightmares and being diagnosed with food allergies. They've gone to doctor after doctor after doctor.
Uh.
Is that a big challenge diagnosing specific food allergies? And why do some people seem to go undiagnosed for years?
Well, I think that is a great question. There's more than one hundred and sixty food proteins that can cause life threatening food allergies. So that's one hundred and sixty proteins that you have to be tested for. It's top
nine allergiens. And I think that's really easy. But if it's something very very unique, it could be challenging because you have to confirm it with an oral food challenge, meaning you have to test for that exact protein food protein and you have to test it meaning you have to have an oral food challenge that leads to anaphylaxis. The misconception is that food allergy is a diet, or it's a preference, or it is a choice. But we
all know that food allergy is a disease. It's a disease of the immune system.
We're speaking doctor, some publicly CEO of Food Allergy Research and Education.
You have food allergies.
I am. I do have food allergies. I developed food allergy as an adult. But you know, I have what we call the typical atopic march. When I was born, I was born with eggzema, so that is the you know, skinien and then I developed asthma and I thought, wow, at least I don't have food allergies. And then as
a young adult I developed food allergies. And you know, when you talk about a triple threat like Jennifer Lopez, sure you know you think about not, you know, a topic march so unlucky me I suffer from, Uh this a topic march of egma, allergies. You know, food allergies and asthma.
I do.
I don't imagine that most people would associate those three things kind of going hand in hand. Exema a skin condition, asthma a longer breathing issue, and then food allergies.
Are they connected?
Yes? They are. They are definitely connected. And uh, you know you'll see that individuals with egma or asthma or food allergies they will have you know, uh two out of story.
Wow, talk to me a little bit about the difficulty, because obviously, if you're a sufferer, you know about food labeling, and I'm sure you're probably thinking about what you can and can eat and whether those foods are even in your direct vicinity, don't you.
You know, every single bite that I take, I have to be very very vigilant about what goes in my mouth every every food, I have to check the label, and even brands that I'm familiar with, I have to make certain that they didn't change any of the ingredients, and I learned that the hard way. I mean, how embarrassing. I'm the CEO of TWOD Allergy Research and Education, and recently, as recent as a week ago, a very very trusted brand that I have eaten for over ten years, they
twitched ingredients and it wasn't really clear. They didn't make any announcements and they had to treat us. And I am deftly trinas and so all of a sudden, I take a bite of one of my favorite favorite cookies and my throat is it'sying, my tongue is flowing up, and I'm like, oh my god, what is going on.
I give, you know, give myself a nasal spray, a penephyrine, and then I'm reading the label quickly and I see there's trinuts now at it, and you know, it's a rookie mistake, obviously, but I'm like, oh my god.
I imagine that's got to be a challenge if you go out to eat, if you're traveling things like.
That, it's very very challenging. But you know, there are a few restaurants that I know are very very safe to eat, like a Chipotle, is one of the favorite places. A burger king is another. And you know, when I go to restaurants as I call ahead and I make certain that I give them my list of allergens. And you know, people are getting to really realize that there are a lot of us and thinking about the fact that there are more than thirty three million Americans with
food allergies. They're realizing that we're a huge consumer group. And it's not just thirty three million, right, Like one person a food allergy, the entire group of people have a food allergy at the table. So we're a very powerful consumer group. I mean, if I have a food allergy, my entire family has a food allergy. If I can't go to that restaurant, my friends can't go to the
restaurant with me. My restaurants. So I think restaurants are catching on that we've got a lot of power and they're becoming or accommodating.
We always hear about peanut allergies, and now you see a lot of gluten free options in restaurants and stuff like that. There's a whole lot of other allergies though. I mean people I know people with adult on send seafood you know, seafood allergies and things like that, So it's much broader than just people think about the peanuts or the soy or things like that.
That's correct, That is absolutely correct. I mean, you know, we talk about top nine allergen, but you know, the other tense allergen that is really you know, increasing, especially on the East Coast, is alphagou where individuals are becoming allergic to mammalian meat and it's a really unusual vector transmission through loan or tick bites.
Well, let me let me ask you that because it brings me to a conversation about our food here in the United States, ultra processed foods and things like that. Do you find in your research that there are people just as many people rather in other countries Canada, the European Union, or what have you, that have similar food allergies than we do here, or is it it's much more widespread here than anywhere else.
You know, food allergies exist in other countries, but for instance, in Israel, there aren't as many children with peanut allergies, and it's for one reason. They have these soft ways for a type of I want to say, they're like cheetos, but they're called Bomba and there are a date of peanuts, and so when they're infants, when they're like you know, three to four months, they are given the Bomba treats to kids and so kids are eating these often and early,
so there's no peanut allergies. So it's the diet and the choices of how these kids are introduced to certain foods. So I think back the variation of the types of food allergies that you see across the world.
And last thing, what are the two or three rules of thumb you would give people as advice if they believe they're developing a food allergy or sensitivity.
Please come to our website for the latest education and we have all the great clinical network sites on our website. Please go and see one of our food allergies specialized doctors. They need to be properly diagnosed and make certain that you are ready to act with epinephrine because you want to be prepared. You want to make certain you have epinephrin at all times because if you have an anaphylactic reaction, you're going to want to have the one drug that can save your life.
And the website is.
Food allergy dot org.
Foodalergy dot org, foodalergy dot org. Doctor Sung Publicy, CEO of Food Allergy Research and Education Fair, thank you very much for the time the wonderful information.
I appreciate it.
Thank you so much.
And that'll do it for another edition of Iheartradios Communities. I'm Manny Muno's until next time.