Tristy lives in South Australia with her two children, Evan aged 10 and Amber aged 12. Both children live with food allergies. Evan is allergic to peanut and tree nuts, eggs, kiwi fruit, dairy and sesame, while Amber is allergic to peanut and tree nuts, eggs, kiwi fruit and coconut.
Tristy faces daily challenges managing her childrens’ allergies. The family don’t regularly eat out at restaurants and, if they do, they often take their own food for the children.
Over the years, the children have had various allergic reactions that have usually been mild enough to manage with antihistamines. However, Amber had her first anaphylaxis at her Year 6 graduation dinner last year, which left her upset and traumatised.
Despite meticulous planning from Tristy and Amber’s school in advance of the graduation – including multiple checks with the venue beforehand as well as upon arrival – Amber was served coconut ice cream and immediately had an allergic reaction.
“I remember taking a bite and thinking the ice cream tasted weird. I had never tasted coconut ice cream before, so I asked my friend to try it, and she told me it was coconut and to tell my mum,” says Amber
Tristy took one look at Amber’s face and could see she was having a reaction, so immediately got her to sit down, gave her an antihistamine, left her with her grandfather and ran to check the ice cream ingredients.
The venue staff confirmed they were so focused on not serving Amber egg, they accidentally served her vegan ice cream which was 98% coconut. They forgot Amber also had a coconut allergy.
“The biggest mistake people can make is assuming one allergy is worse than another, especially a lesserknown allergen like coconut. Just because some allergens are more common, it doesn’t make them more serious” said Tristy.
Within a few minutes, Amber went into anaphylaxis – her throat began to close and she struggled to speak and breathe. An EpiPen® was given and an ambulance called. On arrival, the paramedics then needed to administer a second shot of adrenaline to stabilise Amber. Amber was taken straight to the emergency department for treatment and monitoring overnight, only to be discharged at 6am the following day, still in her pretty graduation dress.
Despite her careful planning and clear communication with the food service staff, as a parent Tristy still blames herself and wonders if she could have done any more to keep Amber safe.
“People think you’re crazy and overprotective – but the reality is you have to check things over and over again,” Tristy said. “You’re not being overprotective – you’re saving your child’s life.”
During Amber’s reaction, Tristy was able to remain calm as she focused on following the steps in the ASCIA Action Plan for Anaphylaxis and trying to protect Amber from feeling scared. However, it then hit her very hard emotionally afterwards. It was a very traumatising experience. Tristy tries not to think about how it could easily have been a different outcome, and she could have lost Amber that night. That is every parent’s worst fear.
Those who have experienced anaphylaxis for themselves or their loved ones know this emotional burden all too well. Our trained Allergy Educators speak to parents like Tristy, and adults at risk of anaphylaxis, every day through the National Allergy Helpline. In addition to providing practical, evidence-based resources to help with allergy management, they provide much-needed emotional support and guidance on managing the psychological impact of allergies and anaphylaxis too.
Determined to do what she can to avoid more traumatic reactions like Amber’s, Tristy is now working with the primary school who are keen to further improve their allergy knowledge after the experience. She is also working with Amber’s new high school to educate the staff about taking food allergies seriously.
To help prevent more unnecessary life-threatening reactions like Amber’s, Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia remains committed to promoting understanding of allergic disease in the community.
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