Pizza Lunchbox For Food Allergy Awareness Week

The only day of the week that my son wishes he could eat the school cafeteria lunch is Friday, or as it's better known, Pizza Day. Since this is the one school meal he asks me to match, I usually keep a stash of little home made pizzas in the freezer. I've tried a couple different ways to make and freeze mini pizzas and calzones, but a small veggie pie seems to be the winner.

No More Dead Children

Photo of victim from NBC 12.

Last year was a tough one for the food allergy community.  A fifteen year old died in Georgia. Within a week a twenty year old also died in the Atlanta area.  A six year old died in Montreal.

Instead of a better educated and more compassionate public, one girl faced parents at an elementary school, who actually made picket signs and protested her food allergy accommodations.  An airline refused to keep another boy safe by refraining from spreading airborne tree nut allergens.

I had cautious hopes that this year would be better.  Then I saw the news yesterday about seven year old Amarria Johnson who died Monday from an allergic reaction on her first day back at school in Chesterfield, Virginia.

This unnecessary death is so horrific, I can't begin to describe it.  Here's the story from WTVR of exactly how an allergic reaction should NOT be managed.

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, VA (WTVR) - Ammaria Johnson, a seven-year-old elementary school student in Chesterfield County, Virginia, died after suffering an allergic reaction at school.
According to Chesterfield police, the initial investigation revealed that the Hopkins Elementary School student, a first grader, died after she suffered an allergic reaction.
Johnson's family said it was a reaction to a peanut product.
Emergency crews were called to Hopkins Elementary Monday afternoon around 2:30 p.m.  When the EMS crew arrived, the child was in cardiac arrest, according to a Chesterfield Fire Department spokesman.
The child was pronounced dead a short time later at CJW Medical Center.
The child's mother, Laura Pendleton was distraught and she has many questions.
"She has an allergy plan at the school," said Pendleton, which authorizes the school to give her Benadryl during a reaction.  "They didn't do that," she said.
At the beginning of the school year, the mother said she tried to give the clinical aid an Epipen for emergencies, but she was declined and told to keep it at home.
Pendleton also wants to know how her daughter got access to the peanut.
She is also upset on how she says the school handled the situation.  "At 2:30 they called my wife and said somebody needed to pick Ammaria up because her tongue was swelling.  My wife told them to call 911."

Failure to give Benadryl, no Epi-pen on hand and the outrageous decision to call a parent instead of 911 when a child's airway is closing?  I don't even have words for this school's heinous behavior.  What part of "life threatening medical condition" did they not understand?  These people shouldn't be entrusted with the care of a gerbil, let alone a child's life.

And what kind of self-serving, we're-not-responsible-for-the-death-of-the-child-in-our-care, preparing-for-a-lawsuit garbage was the school district trying to serve up with its statement that this girl died of a "pre-existing medical condition"?  Here's the county's own guidelines for managing food allergies which the school failed to follow.  (Thanks to @IknowTiffany for the link.)

If I were a parent in that school district, nothing would outrage me more than the knowledge that the school was aware of the "pre-existing medical condition", had an action plan in place and still did not keep her safe.

Let me tell you what I want from 2012:  NO MORE DEAD CHILDREN.

Food allergy deaths are preventable.  The steps are simple, but require compassion and common sense which, clearly, are in short supply:

• Label all food, beauty and medical products accurately and completely.
• Ban airlines from serving peanuts and tree nuts, so that food allergic travelers are not denied safe access to public transportation because of their invisible disability.
• Train restaurant staff to safely prepare meals and avoid cross-contamination for food allergic customers.
• Have a licensed nurse on site in every school.
• Create an appropriate food allergy plan for school children, and follow it to the letter.
• Keep food in the cafeteria and out of the classroom.
• Pass the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act.  Do it now before more children die.

I'm fresh out of tact and diplomacy.  I really don't give a damn about your child's "right to eat peanut butter" or some corporation's "proprietary information".  I just want to keep my son alive.

Please, that's all I want from 2012.  Don't kill my child.

My deepest, most heartfelt condolences go out to Amarria's family.  You are living my worst nightmare, and my heart bleeds for you.

Post updated to correct the spelling of Amarria's name which was misspelled Ammaria in the original news reports.

Food Allergy Family Tree: A Century of Allergic Reactions

Swedish immigrants John Hendrickson Lake and Anna Erickson Lake with their 10 children, including 2 sets of twins, circa 1903/04 outside Hoffman, Minnesota.  My great-grandmother, Amanda Elizabeth Lake is standing in front of the door on the right.

The percentage of kids with food allergies has risen sharply and abruptly from almost none to one in every classroom in under a decade.  Food allergies used to be extraordinarily rare, but they did exist, including in my family.

My son is a fourth generation food allergy sufferer.

The first member of my family that we can confirm had a food allergy was my Ama, Harriet Amanda Horton, who supposedly as a toddler was peeking out of the window at her mother, Amanda Lake Horton, when the picture above was taken.  Harriet was violently allergic to shellfish her entire life.

Harry Davenport Horton and Amanda Elizabeth Lake.

I don't know if either of my Ama's parents had a food allergy.  Her mother, Amanda died when Harriet was 14 months old.  She was raised by her grandmother, and went on to marry and have four children, including my father, who was also extremely allergic to shellfish and less so to eggs.  He eventually outgrew the egg allergy, but remained allergic to shellfish for his entire lifetime.

Harriet Amanda Horton,  food allergy kid circa 1910/15. 

In my generation, my brother followed the same pattern as my father, outgrowing an egg allergy, but remaining so allergic to shellfish, that to this day he cannot walk into a seafood restaurant without having difficulty breathing.  I do not have any known food allergies, but have clearly carried the legacy on to my son, who is allergic to seven different foods.

Another generation of food allergies:  my dad, lower left, and his older siblings.

Growing up around food allergies profoundly shaped my response to my son's initial diagnosis.  When my four month old, mostly breastfed preemie had his first allergic reaction to a milk based formula, we went to the emergency room to have him treated, picked up some Benadryl on the way home and simply carried on.  Quite frankly he had other medical issues that were of greater concern to us at the time, and a food allergy we knew how to manage.

That's the other part of my family's legacy, a stoic Scandinavian attitude that a food allergy is something that is managed by careful avoidance, rather than by medical intervention.  It's just something that we live with.  In three generations of food allergies, not one of my family members sought out an allergist.

As my son approached a year in age and had more reactions as he was exposed to more foods, we simply treated them with Benadryl.  If I suspected he was sensitive to a food, I'd dab some of it on his back to see if he reacted, then avoid it if he did.  (I do not recommend doing this to test for food allergies, please see a medical professional!)  I avoided giving him peanuts on his pediatrician's advice and stayed well away from shellfish, because of our family history.

At three years of age, I allowed my son to eat peanut butter, since he had accidentally been given it once before without any kind of reaction.  He got a few bites down before projectile vomiting and sprouting hives.  I gave him Benadryl once again, then finally made an appointment to see an allergist.

At the first appointment, the allergist grilled me fairly unmercifully about how I'd managed my son's food allergies.  I had the impression that he either thought I was overreacting and my son didn't really have them, or that I had been extremely reckless in managing them the way I had.  I was pretty sure he was leaning toward the latter by the end of the conversation, as I described the violent responses to various foods.

Then the results of both the IgE and scratch testing confirmed every food allergy I'd reported.  Shellfish, which I had never exposed him to, was highest on the scale, 4+ out of 5, closely followed by peanut.  The doctor prescribed a 2 pack of Epi-Pens.

After the visit I started researching food allergies online and discovered that they are not just my family's genetic quirk, but a new epidemic faced by an amazing community of families determined to overcome this unexpected threat to their children.  As I read each report about new research and medical advances, I've almost allowed myself to begin to start thinking about a cure.  Almost.

My very own allergic kid.

Please consider joining me and other members of my community at the Tampa FAAN Walk for Food Allergy on November 12.  I'd be absolutely thrilled if you would consider joining my team, starting one of your own or making a donation.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days.

Lunch and Love

In theory, this is still a food blog, so here's a sweet little lunch to tide you over:  a sliced turkey and Tofutti "cream cheese" wrap, pretzels, fruit salad of grapes, mandarin oranges and strawberries (with elephant food pick), and a heart cookie with apple juice and Happy Feet stickers on the side.  Doesn't everyone need dancing penguins to share at lunch time?

Today I'm still reeling from a call from the school nurse.  My son drank from a water fountain in the music room, though he knows he's not supposed to.  ("But I was thirsty!")  He had a contact reaction with hives on his hands, and even more worryingly, on his throat.  Nothing terrifies me like a threat to my child's airway.  The school handled it well, as always:  a staff member spotted it right away, the nurse determined what happened, washed him off, called me up and gave him Benadryl.  My husband then picked him up from school, since a dose of the pink liquid leaves him too sleepy and accident prone to return to class.

Sometimes I just hate this.

The really scary part is that I am one of the lucky ones.  My son's school is supportive, caring, professional and has a full time nurse on staff.  The other parents are considerate and concerned for my son's safety.  His teacher is wonderful beyond words.

I don't know how parents manage to stay sane when the school and community don't believe that part of being a good parent and good person is looking out for other people's children.  Yesterday I finally met a family in that situation, Tracey and Dave Bailey whose incredibly sweet six year old daughter has been the target of a brutal smear campaign, which has misrepresented her food allergy accommodations and attempted to drive her out of a public school.

The school in Edgewater, Florida, which has been picketed by parents, held an "Allergy Awareness Meeting" yesterday which some of the members of our support group attended in order to show support for the Bailey family.  It was a remarkably quiet event, but I do have a post brewing about it, as promised.

In the meantime, here is a photo of an amazing peanut detection dog, who I was also privileged to meet yesterday.  This is an animal who could serve as an example of the unconditional love and tireless dedication needed to keep a child safe.  Maybe the protesters in Edgewater could learn a little something from her.

Happy Pi(e) Day!

Even though I haven't had time to bake, I'm still taking a break from the insanity to celebrate the date, 3.14... that is!  Here are a few of my favorite egg, dairy and nut free pies from the past.

You can take the girl out of Minnesota, but you can't take the unhealthy relationship with a sports team out of the girl.  This blueberry lemon Viking Pie put the fun back in dysfunctional.

A pastry in poor taste never tasted so good!  Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie has savory chicken inside.  (Yes, chicken.  Why are you looking at me like that?)

This delicious Coconut Key Lime Pie is perfect for a very, very special occasion.  Why?  Because no one in their right mind would stand in front of a stove for half an hour stirring coconut milk while it reduces just for fun.

Tomorrow I'll get back to the hard work of managing food allergies at school, and give you a glimpse of my son's health plan.  In the meantime, enjoy this mathematical holiday!

A Gift for My Gluten Free Friends

I've been mostly MIA from the blog for the last few weeks as I've been preparing for a big first for me.  A local health food store, Rollin' Oats Market & Cafe in Tampa asked me to teach an allergen free cooking class.  (Gulp.)  Since I've inadvertently become the cookie lady in these parts, I decided that we'd make the now infamous Double Chocolate Brownie Bites.

If the focus was allergen free, though, it seemed almost taunting to make something so delicious that couldn't be consumed by anyone allergic to soy and downright mean to bake it up in front of the local celiac sufferers.  That finally tipped the scale toward the many other requests I've received for a gluten free version. So I went back to the drawing board with this little cookie that has become such a big part of my life and worked out a new recipe that is free of gluten and all of the Big 8 allergens.

If you visit the original post, you can scroll down to a link at the end for the even more allergy friendly cookie.  (I wanted to keep all the links in one place.)  And if you're in the area, I'll be teaching a second (free) class at the Rollin' Oats St. Pete location on Thursday, February 24th, at 6:30.  You can reserve a place by calling 813-873-7428.  Hope to see you there!