sadness

[rootofnewt]

A teenager in Quebec died this past week after kissing her boyfriend. He'd eaten a peanut butter sandwich hours earlier. Her friends didn't know she was peanut allergic, or they didn't know she had an epi-pen. She did receive a shot of adrenaline, but it wasn't enough. Her family is reeling from this loss and I'm sure her boyfriend is devastated--she died as a direct result of his actions. He didn't mean to kill her--most news reports say he didn't know she was allergic or didn't recognize the seriousness--but carelessness and ignorance can have dire consequences. This didn't have to happen.

Food allergies are serious business.

Some folks think the fact that boy remains soy-free is overkill, but we've decided that keeping me alive isn't overkill. If he eats soy or peanuts or wheat, we usually can't kiss for a day or two. We have to be very careful about touching. He has to wash up completely before getting back into the car or going into the house.

Comments

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I remember when we went to the BBQ place on the way down to Natural Bridge, you reminding me to wash my hands when I was done eating and me having a momentary "duh" before you reminded me I'd be touching the inside of your car. Remembering that moment has helped me be more conscientious about that sort of thing overall.

One thing I'm trying to figure out about the Quebec story is the amount of time that lapsed between the kiss and when she died. Was a couple of days, wasn't it?

[krasota.livejournal.com]

Aye. I'm guessing she was on life support--the news reports don't say.

[griffen.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one with a soy allergy, even though... yeah, it's not fun to know that *anyone* has one.

You're the first other one I've met.

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thank you for passing this on. I will pass it to my friends who are parents of infants (the link I found on google to the news stories said that the peanut oil in some baby lotions may help the children develop peanut allergies). Fascinating.

[absinthea.livejournal.com]

peanut allergies are some of the nastiest...Even worse than most penicillin allergies, I've been told.

[kesara.livejournal.com]

yeah, but try convincing a physician that you have a food allergy *before* you have a life-threatening reaction to it...

I'm still wrestling with that one.

[deborahs-corner.livejournal.com]

people just are not educated enough on this...
huggers

[laverick.livejournal.com]

I saw a blip about that news very briefly, and I was disappointed I didn't get to hear the whole story, that more wasn't said. Very serious business indeed, and I didn't realize just how sensitive those allergies were!