Savannah Jane

Today, my beloved Aggies lost to Alabama in a hard fought game I only watched a few minutes of. I don’t care.

I dropped Savannah off at her friend’s house before the game and went to a good friends house to watch. We had a lovely time and as I was leaving to pick up S at halftime, I got a panicky call from her friend’s mom. Her buddy is a fellow nut allergy kid and they were BOTH accidentally exposed to nuts at Pink Berry.

She had to take two panicked girls to the closest ER all because a national chain didn’t properly label their ingredients. Worse yet, Pink Berry employees were specifically asked if the food contained nuts and my friend was told  ‘no’. After the girls had taken two bites they were then told – ‘Oh wait, this DOES have nuts in it.’  Way to be Pink Berry.

I want to tell you my friend was brave and did the EXACT right thing. I THANK her today. She got the hug after I loved on the girls, who were sharing a hospital bed and were so scared. Savannah was sobbing and kept telling me she ‘was so sorry’. She had nothing to be sorry about.

If you are hosting a child with a food allergy and an accidental exposure happens. Benadryl and 911 or a trip to the ER are not an over-reaction. Hopefully the parent provided you with an Epi-pen. Don’t be scared to use it- it’s easy. I’ll let you borrow my practice pen if you want. If a kid broke his arm at your house, you’d call the ambulance, right?

25% of Savannah’s class has a food allergy. I know it seems weird and insignificant to families that don’t have to deal with it, but food allergies are REAL and DEADLY. We were lucky today, but every exposure can lead to more serious reactions down the road. My kid is 7 and has a long life ahead of her. This is something we deal with daily. She will have to deal with it on her own in just a few years. That thought terrifies me. I can’t go to college with her and monitor what she eats. It doesn’t matter that at this point her allergy is relatively mild – at any time she could have a full blown anaphylactic reaction. Stories like this one keep me up at night.

I will ask you to be more tolerant of food allergies. Empathize and understand they can be life threatening. Teach your children not to be food bullies. Don’t roll your eyes if a terrified mom asks your class to be nut free. I understand a PB&J is an easy and inexpensive lunch, but it could end a child’s life. You can come up with something else for your kid to eat- make it a teachable moment in helping your fellow man.

EDITED TO ADD! I want to thank the lovely people at Westlake Medical Center for the caring they showed not only the girls, but to the parents. From the front desk to the nurses and the doctor, they were ALL wonderful. I also want to let you know that the Austin Pink Berry will now start labeling their ingredients for the major allergies. They used to just have a book with the ingredients in the back, but all allergens will be consumer facing from now on – yea!