Facebook is blazing this morning with this story, “Cops: Monmouth Boy Dies of possible allergic reaction”. Wow, I just am having a hard time this morning getting my head around this. I just testified last week in the Nevada Senate Health and Human Services Committee regarding epinephrine in schools. I talked about the all the allergy deaths we’ve read about over the last two years. Now, when I go to testify in the Assembly I will have a new story to tell. A story that we should not need to tell, but one that is becoming too frequent these days. UPDATE: 4/9/13, “Did an Allergy Cause a Young Boy’s Death?” was published yesterday and it mentioned that today there will be autopsy to determine if indeed it was an allergy.
image courtesy of All-Free-download.com
I pray for this child’s family and again, we are all wondering, was epinephrine giving quickly? Was it available or was a second does on hand? The reaction occurred after a visit to a local Starbucks, so was there a cross contact issue or just a simple accident. It could have been unrelated as well. Although, on the note of Starbucks, a prepacked cookie my child has been able to eat had a new tree nut warning on it yesterday. Also, a drink she used to order had also changed and was no longer safe. The moral of the story yesterday was that at every single visit, we must simply ask about recipe or manufacturing changes.
As more news stories and details are published, I will update this page.
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
When I saw the title of this post in my email this afternoon, I heart just sank. NOT AGAIN I thought. What a horrible horrible tragedy.
I know! I added a second post. Simply heart breaking
Ugh. Too many of these stories out there lately! 🙁 Breaks my heart!
Julie, this is just NOT okay, when solutions are out there! As long as we keep these conversations up, I think we are heading in the right direction.
Agreed! It totally breaks my heart that we have to read so many stories like this. My heart and prayers go out to them and others like them.
Breaks my heart. I keep Googling for updated info and came across your post. Thanks for sharing stories where it matters. My son is 7 with a severe milk allergy and this hits too close to home. Each tragedy caused us to reflect and find a couple more ways to tweak our habits…to keep our son safer. Saying I am praying for the family just doesn’t seem like enough. It’s hard, very hard….
This is so painful and we all just cry together as a community. My daughter is 9 and we visited Starbucks on Sunday where she ended up with nothing since all of a sudden their warnings had changed. I thought my head was going to blow when I learned of this little boy’s death.
I’m very anxious about the autopsy and details. I am hoping those details will provide answers and lessons. pray for the family that one day they will find peace.
I had a similar incident at Starbucks, requested a dairy free strawberry & banana smoothie. Never had a problem before.
I was driving on the I-215 Tuesday night coming home from church and my daughter told me from the backseat, “mommy, my throat is closing up and I’m going to throw up!”
Lord, please help me! I got her a smoothie from Starbucks, as always, I’m specific telling them about her severe food allergies. They omitted the milk, but still added the whey protein powder. My daughter drank almost 1/2 quickly and within 5 minutes, I was pondering to pull over on the 215.
I have never had a problem when I tell them dairy free. Did this time. It was a different location. I called customer service and he informed me not all employees know that Whey Protein powder is a milk product. I said, “huh?”
How can one store know and another doesn’t? I told him to take this concern to his supervisor to let them know to educate their employees on Food Allergies and to teach their employees what allergens are in their products. He didn’t have a good attitude, it was getting late and I was too tired to complain.
I’m going to call them today and ask to speak to a supervisor. I hope I can explain to them the seriousness of food allergies in children and adults. Hopefully, they can educate their employees re: allergens in their products.
I will never order from a drive-thru again. I need to be inside the building to watch them make her drinks.
June, I’m so sorry to hear you had to deal with that reaction. Sounds like all ended up well.
I did get a response from Starbucks via email regarding ingredients and dairy free items and I have to say I no longer feel confident with their products for my kids. A barista gave me so many answers different from what the company stated that I am just avoiding Starbucks for my food allergic children at this point.