Ruth Kidney and Ben Slater’s 3-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Alison, nearly died from anaphylactic shock last year after consuming 2 spoons of yoghurt. They both came on the Today programme, presented by Richard Curran, to discuss that terrifying day as they remember it and to offer advice to parents who think their child may be suffering from allergies. Also joining them was a member of the medical team who helped save Alison’s life, Dr David Menzies.
Ruth described how it was clear from when Alison was a newborn that there was something wrong.
“From a baby, from a very, very early age, maybe kind of 2 weeks old, she was crying all the time. She was very sick. We thought she had reflux. We thought she had colic. We didn’t really know what was wrong with her and neither did anyone we brought her to.”
Alison developed severe eczema at 4 and a half months, requiring a hospital visit. Tests showed she was allergic to milk and eggs. The hope was that Alison could be re-introduced to dairy at a later time. Ben remembered being glad that they knew what the problem was.
“We didn’t actually understand the seriousness of it at the time. We thought it was just allergies. People get allergies, there’s lots of people with allergies. We had an answer…we still didn’t understand how serious it would be should she come into contact with dairy.”
On Valentine’s Day last year, Ruth got a call to say Alison had accidentally consumed two spoons of yoghurt. Ruth thought Alison might become ill but wasn’t too worried initially.
“I didn't even realise you could have anaphylaxis to milk…I was under the impression that she would be fine. That she would probably vomit because she’d vomited before when she’d consumed dairy but that would be the extent of her reaction.”
Unfortunately, this was not to be the case and Alison quickly went downhill. Ruth recalled how she tried to work out what to do, while still on the phone.
“Within about 5 minutes her lips and eyes were swollen. 10 minutes, she was vomiting. She was itchy all over her body…We thought we were kind of at the end of the symptoms and I heard her coughing in the background. And my gut just told me, the cough was like an old man’s cough. That it wasn’t from a toddler. So, I instructed the epipen to be given and I called the ambulance…I thought I’d overreacted. At that point, the emergency services took over.”
One of those involved in treating Alison was Dr David Menzies, who took a detour on the way to meet his wife when he got the call. He explained how critical the situation was when he arrived on the scene.
“When I arrived, it was apparent that she was really sick…She was working really hard to breathe. Her breathing was fast, she was very wheezy. And the adrenaline or the epipen didn’t seem to have had much effect. It took probably another 2 or 3 doses from me plus some additional treatment with steroids, oxygen and antihistamines to get anywhere. And I think even by the time we got to Crumlin, she was probably only about 50% better than she was. It was the worst case I’ve ever seen.”
Ben told Richard that he got the news at work.
“I was in sheer panic…I just grabbed my jacket and ran, made my way to Crumlin hospital…When the ambulance arrived and they took Alison out, I didn’t recognise her. She was so swollen. She was so red. She was so sick…I felt useless, there was nothing I could do for her.”
David said that an allergy as severe as this is “extremely rare” and that both he and the staff at Crumlin Hospital had “never seen anything like it”. Happily, Alison responded to treatment and was left with no long-lasting effects from the incident. However, that day changed the way the family live, as Ben described.
“We have to risk-assess everything…we live in an allergy-free environment because Ali’s allergies go far beyond just dairy…We still don't know the full extent of her allergies…We risk-assess everything when we walk into somebody’s house we’re looking for that cup of tea with a little bit left in the end of it or a baby’s bottle with formula...When I saw her in such a serious condition that day in Crumlin, I just made a promise and I said ‘That’s it’ and I gave up my job. I look after her full-time now. It was too much to put on the shoulders of someone else…the slightest contact with dairy could be fatal for Alison. She’s more important to me than a career.”
Ruth had this advice for any parents listening who might be concerned that their child has an allergy.
“Get them tested. Bring them to their GP. Don’t cut things out of their diet unless you actually are diagnosed…it’s not ideal having to cut so many foods out of a child’s diet and it needs careful monitoring.“
Listen back to the whole segment on Anaphylaxis here.