Our Anaphylaxis Experience on Holiday

Allergy mum Kathryn shares her young son's experience of anaphylaxis whilst on holiday in France.

"As the food arrived, I thought it looked odd, stringy, like cheese. My son had taken a mouthful, I looked at it again and shouted that it had cheese mixed in it! My husband checked and yes, after all the conversations with restaurant staff, they had mixed Parmesan cheese into the Bolognese.

My son immediately stopped eating, but it was too late to stop an allergic reaction. It started with a tingle in his mouth, we gave him antihistamine and pulled out his allergy action plan. Within a few minutes his cough became persistent, like trying to clear his throat. Without hesitation I said we needed to use the Jext Adrenaline pen and call for an ambulance. I laid him down on a bench, raised his legs with cushions and apologising as I did, administered the Jext into his thigh.

The ambulance arrived quickly, and we went straight to hospital. The paramedics asked if he could walk, and I insisted he remained in a lying position. I wasn’t prepared to take any risks. We spent about 2 hours in the hospital whilst he was monitored, they needed his heart rate and skin colour to return to normal as he looked sunburned. The Doctor was excellent, and we left with four days’ worth of steroids and a starving hungry boy.

We have replayed this over and over in our heads wondering if we could have done anything differently, we’ve been travelling to France for about 10 years, and this has never happened before.

I have spoken to a couple of medical professionals since who said “Well done” for using the Jext. I honestly didn’t hesitate, it felt powerful to have something I could use to stop the allergic reaction.

After 14 years of managing allergies for my boys, it would be easy to think that I don’t need to go over allergy training at every appointment. I now know it's vital, you must practice the drill again and again, for the day when you really need it."

- @Kathryngadd

This photographed has been shared with permission by Kathryn.