In the early 1990's a Grade 3 teacher brought a cake to her students for a class party. A little girl ate a piece and exclaimed,"Oh no! and died within seconds. The poor teacher was devastated as were we, her friends. Later that same year a pretty, clever, second year university student died at the head table of a wedding at which she was a bridesmaid because the wedding cake had a peanut paste. Not long after a young man collapsed because a hot "pie" from a well known fast food chain had nuts in it.
Folks, the first two happened on my watch. Zip ahead two or three years and up to the present where students and teachers at my school could not even have peanuts on their breath because a young lad had a huge chance of contacting anaphylaxis. He carried an epi -pen(mini-injector)at all times.
Folks, I have not wanted to write this warning but it is about something so fast..so deadly that I suggest one never introduce nut substances to children.Ron

It is very important that we not eat nuts prior to working with children for that reason. I know a boy who went to the hospital because his teddy bear had been sewn by a woman who had handled nuts.

Thank you for the important reminder. If you work with children in the hospital you must also ask the hospital whether you can use Latex puppets. You may need to take the Vinyl Vern or Vinyl Amazing Apes instead.

Or simply bring the MDB and draw any animal character you need...

Hi Ron,

I was just wondering where you got the data and the story you posted...

I posted this in another forum to warn other people of the danger but got different reactions...

Thanks

Wanlu

Peanut allergy is a type of food allergy, distinct from nut allergies. It is a hypersensitivity to dietary substances from peanuts causing an overreaction of the immune system which may lead to severe physical symptoms for millions of people[1].
Symptoms of peanut allergy are related to the action of Immunoglobulin E (IgE) and other anaphylatoxins, which act to release histamine and other mediator substances from mast cells (degranulation).
* vomiting
* diarrhoea
* urticaria (hives)
* angioedema (swelling of the lips, face, throat and skin)
* acute abdominal pain
* exacerbation of atopic eczema
* asthma
* anaphylactic shock
The British Dietetic Association warns that: "If untreated, anaphylactic shock can result in death due to obstruction of the upper or lower airway (bronchospasm) or hypotension and heart failure. This happens within minutes to hours of eating the peanuts. The first symptoms may include sneezing and a tingling sensation on the lips, tongue and throat followed by pallor, feeling unwell, warm and light headed. Asthmatics with peanut sensitivity are more likely to develop life threatening reactions."[6]
As with most allergies, avoidance is the key. All labels for foods, medicines, cosmetics, creams, and ointments should be read. Ron

Juan, I ran out of room in which to include a personal comment. I too experienced a negative reaction from the moderator of a Kids' Magic site. He said my warning was interesting, but had no relevance to childrens' shows.
Juan,I was a radio journalist for 22 years..I saw the girl's corpse at the funeral home ..I met with her family and her little sister..haunting to imagine the future for that little one! Also I have attended a number of seminars on the peanut allergy and was trained to use the epi-pen
I too was astonished at the moderator's opinion. To me it would be like suggesting to a resident of the Philippines that a person in the Las Vegas desert is more of an expert on tsunamis than the people in your archipelago who were battered by the storms.
Thanks for your input. By now I should be hardened to people who refuse to consider health risks, but I'm not.
My information came from Wikipedia. Ron

Thanks Ron


The comment I got when I posted your story was..."did it happen in this world?" or something like that?

I think some people are not too worried about stuff like these although we ought to be...


BTW...its Wanlu not Juan

My apologies, Wanlu.
Ron

Thanks again, folks for reiterating the need for safety. I have a friend who had to choose between eating nuts and kissing his wife. He misses the nuts but his marriage has gone strong for 30 years.

Good thing he didn't marry a nut!

Ax

THis was posted on the www.incm.org forum for children's pastors and I felt it went along with the posts above.

Serious allergies
Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 6:59 PM (CST)
I have two daughters 8 and 6 and a son 2. My daughter who is 8 is seriously allergic to tree nuts and my son is seriously allergic to milk. We have taught my daughter and are teaching my son that they NEVER eat food that was not from home or their parents. We also never let them be away from their Epi Pens. Sometimes volunteers feel bad that they can't eat the candy and actually try to get them to do so.

When my daughter was younger, we put her in class with a sticker that clearly said not to give her any food (once a volunteer "protected" the wrong Emily and we found our daughter eating, so we then started the sticker idea.)

For my son, we will not put him in a class because milk is not possible for an average person to avoid unless you are trained. He sits in church with me...and actually likes it. Probably because it's one-on-one time for an hour and a half.

Some people don't understand, so I tell them, "If you knew there was cyanide in a sippy cup in your two year old child's class room, would you feel safe with that? What if I told you that I'd keep an eye on him so he didn't drink out of it while I watched 8 other 2 year olds?" Obviously no one would do that. But milk to him is a poison, and if he get it, the clock starts ticking as his throat starts closing. It's serious.

That being said, parents are ultimately responsible, not volunteers or church staff. My wife and I can not expect the rest of the world to understand nor know how to protect our children the same way we can. And yes, washing your lips before you kiss them is great. They get hives all over their cheek. Not life threatening, but not so nice either. May be worse for kids with peanut allergy?

Baruch