Football Star Dies of Food Allergic Reaction
I was so saddened to read this article sent to me from my friend Rita.
Footballer Died From Allergic Reaction
This young man was diagnosed with a peanut allergy at age 5 but had never ingested peanuts. Similar to Emily VonderMeulen, his first reaction to eating peanuts was a fatal one.
A young man has died after suffering a severe allergic reaction to a curry containing peanuts.
Talented footballer Danny Macpherson, who would have celebrated his 22nd birthday today, suffered an immediate anaphylactic shock after eating a mouthful of food from an Indian takeaway.
His mum, Diane, and 17-year-old sister, Amy, rushed to his aid, but he suffered a heart attack in the ambulance on the way to hospital.
His parents say his skin would swell when he touched peanuts, but that he had never actually eaten one. They now want people to be more aware of the dangers of cooking with peanut oil and using contaminated cooking equipment.
March 12, 2009 @ 2:07 am
Stories like this make me feel sick to my stomach, but they are good reminders. I wish there was some way to know what would happen if my daughter ate a peanut, cashew or pistachio (the nuts she tested “highly allergic” to). The not knowing is scary but also kind of lets me get too comfortable — maybe because I don’t want to believe that something like this could really happen.
March 28, 2009 @ 10:07 pm
I am so saddened to hear this….any sort of fatality by ingesting an allergen is horrific to me, just to know that it could have been controllable.
I was completely infuriated after reading last weeks article in Time magazine about peanut allergies.This is the link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1881985,00.html
The doctors down played it and said how statistics were exaggerated and the number of deaths were not as many as reported (I don’t know where they got their data, but they reported 20 vs 100 reported by FAAN)
Well, then you read something like this and I have to agree w/FAAN where even one death is too many.
As a mom of a son w/multiple food allergies, my heart goes out to Danny’s family.
March 30, 2009 @ 4:41 pm
He had to have been sensitized to peanuts in some way to have just reacted in such a manner. It is hard to believe that he never ingested a peanut and was diagnosed with an allergy to peanuts. That just seems very far fetched to me. I do not believe it.
March 30, 2009 @ 6:26 pm
Neither of my sons have ever knowingly ingested eggs, but both are highly allergic. Perhaps sensitization occurs during the course of the pregnancy or with breastfeeding. I wish you could be in my shoes when a reaction is occurring -then you would believe it and not doubt.
March 31, 2009 @ 9:56 am
Just a reminder to all with peanut and tree nut allergies, ethnic foods are all highly likely to contain peanuts/tree nuts as ingredients and have higher risk of cross contamination. (especially risky…Indian, Chinese, Thai!!)
My two daughters are both highly allergic to peanuts and I never allow them to eat at these types of restaurants. I’m sorry for the famililies loss.
April 26, 2009 @ 10:22 am
My son has never eaten a peanut - yet the ImmunoCap blood test shows his allergy is 100+ level 6 - which is the highest level there is.
We really need to support each other and try not to publicly discount something another parent in the anaphylactic community has shared about their child’s allergy. It is counter productive. If we can’t support each other, how can we expect the general public to be empathetic…?
May 12, 2010 @ 10:05 pm
I wish you could be in my shoes when a reaction is occurring -then you would believe it and not doubt.