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Our Story
by Kris Koehler - Overland Park, KS
Several years ago, I was having a nice conversation with a Canadian friend - the topic was "the banning of peanut
butter in schools." To me, this sounded ridiculous. I told her that if my child wanted to take a peanut butter sandwich to
school - one child with an allergy should not have the ability to stop him. I remember saying, "My child should be able to
eat it if he wants."
At that time, I did not understand how serious food allergies could be. I myself am allergic
to shellfish - but I've never eaten it, so I've never reacted to it. And peanut allergy was something I'd never really heard
of. I simply could not understand how one child eating a peanut butter sandwich could affect another child.
I now
understand.
On September 4, 2002, I was sitting on the floor of my living room with my then 14-month old daughter.
I was nibbling on a graham cracker thinly spread with peanut butter. Brenna kept walking up to me and opening her mouth. Several
months previous, she had eaten a peanut butter Oreo - so I figured a tiny bite of my graham cracker was perfectly safe.
How wrong I was.
Within minutes her face started to swell and the hives began to emerge. I could not believe what
I was seeing. I asked my husband to come look and he agreed that the red marks I was seeing were hives....and as we were standing
over her, her eyes began to swell shut, and to tear immensely. I ran to the phone and called her Pediatrician.
Since
our son, Joshua, is allergic to strawberries (and had an anaphylactic reaction at 8 months of age) we always have Benadryl
on hand. We also had his Epi Pens in the cupboard. I *knew* I should use the Epi Pen on Brenna....but was afraid to.
(I won't be afraid to in the future, since I've now been properly educated on how to administer it) While I waited for
the Children's Hospital to return my call - we gave her Benedryl.
The hives got worse before they got better - but
we were lucky, and we thank God for that....the Benadryl kicked in, and prevented the typical "closing of the throat" reaction.
Brenna slept for approximately 18 hours, on and off - awake for a few minutes, asleep for a few hours...and so on. We watched
her like a hawk. We were told that a reaction could recur any time over the next 12 hour span...and we were really afraid.
Several days later Brenna was tested for peanut allergy at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Her results came
back positive, as we knew they would. And, I started doing my homework and learning everything I could about food allergies,
anaphylaxis, and peanut allergies.
My daughter's allergy to peanuts is potentially life-threatening. With most food
allergies, a person needs to actually ingest the allergen in order to have a reaction. This is not necessarily so with a peanut
allergy. Have you ever sat next to someone eating a peanut butter sandwich? I have...and I can smell it. That smell indicates
that the protein in the peanut butter has become airborne, and that's all it takes for children like Brenna to have a reaction.
Imagine you are shopping at Wal-mart with your child, and he really wants a Reece's cup. While eating the Reece's cup - your
child touches the handle of the cart. The peanut protein is now on the cart handle...and if a peanut allergic child sits in
that car or a peanut allergic adult touches that handle....it could mean a trip to the ER. It's so very difficult for
people to understand....but people NEED to understand. People need to be educated on the dangers of peanut allergies, and
food allergies as a whole.
Brenna wears a Medic-Alert bracelet at all times. A medical kit containing Benedryl, a
syringe, 2 Epinephrine Auto-Injectors (we have 6 of them all-together), instructions on how to use the Epi Pens, and emergency
contact information is carried with us at ALL times. When we are shopping, Brenna rides in a cart that is covered by a Floppy
Seat (floppyseat.com) so her skin never actually touches any part of the cart. Brenna never eats cookies, cakes, or other
treats from bakeries - and I spend a great deal of time placing calls to different food manufacturing companies to verify
that cross-contamination is not a possibility.
Keeping our daughter safe is a 24/7 job. Thankfully, I've got Denise
Lewis and the Food Allergy Connection behind me. Denise has been a terrific source of education as well as encouragement -
and I greatly look forward to helping the group grow and become a leader in advocacy for food allergic persons.
Kris
Koehler
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