Peanuuut… Peanut Butter, AND JELLY!  To some this maybe just a simple children’s song but for others, including my sister Heidi, it can cause her to have a panic attack. My niece Annabelle has a severe peanut allergy which has totally changed how her family eats and where they can go. My niece was diagnosed seven years ago and knows her limits on what she can and cannot have to eat. This is how her story began..

My sister and her husband gave Annabelle, then two years old at the time, a small bite of peanut butter. She immediately grabbed her throat. My sister gave her Benadryl and called the doctor who said to bring Annabelle right into their office. Luckily, my sister stayed very calm in this situation. They saw her, made sure she was safe, and then referred her to an allergist.

Annabelle then went to see this allergist who did a skin prick test on my her back. My sister said that she looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame from the test. Her back swelled up where they were testing her for the peanut allergy. The doctor also sent her to have blood work done to find out the severity of her allergy.

The blood work came back with terrible news… not only does she have to carry an EpiPen with her at all times, but her allergy is life threatening. My sister now has to educate not only our family, but other people on what it means to have a food allergy. Fast forward to today..

Annabelle still has a severe peanut allergy, but they know that a peanut allergy does not necessary mean you need to live in a bubble. You definitely have to be very careful though. Annabelle goes to friends’ houses and has sleepovers, goes out to eat, the movies, and does what other eight-year-olds do, but she is more aware than other kids of foods that can be harmful to her. She has had to grow up much quicker because of her allergy.

Facts

A peanut allergy is one of the most severe food allergies from which people suffer. During my three years tenure as the medic at High Trails, I saw a large increase in the number of students suffering from this particular allergy and the resulting Epi-Pens that they brought to our program to help keep them safe. According to a Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) funded study, the number of children in the U.S. with peanut allergy more than tripled between 1997 and 2008.¹

Peanutallergy.com is a good source of information. Courtesy of their website, here are some peanut allergy statistics accompanied by links to their sources. We encourage you to follow the links for a better understanding of the problem.

• Peanut allergy is one of the “Big 8” food allergies that account for 90% of those suffered by 21 million Americans. (AAAAI and FAAN)
• More than 3 million people in the United States report being allergic to peanuts, tree nuts or both. (AAAAI)
• Approximately 1% of the U.S. population has a peanut allergy (Sicherer, SH, “Prevalence of peanut and tree nut allergy in the US…“)
• Less than 21% of patients with peanut allergy will outgrow it. (AAAAI)
• Four out of every 100 children have a food allergy. (CDC/NCHS Study,“Food Allergy Among U.S. Children…”)
• From 1997 to 2007, the prevalence of reported food allergy increased 18% among children under age 18 years. (CDC/NCHS Study, “Food Allergy Among U.S. Children…”)

Perhaps my niece, Annabelle, will be one of the lucky 21% and outgrow her food allergy. We still keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best on her next allergy test. In the meantime, my niece adapts and still lives her life. We do the same for students at High Trails; we’ll help them experience outdoor education and take the necessary precautions to ensure they stay safe.

At High Trails Outdoor Science School, we literally force our instructors to write about elementary outdoor education, teaching outside, learning outside, our dirty classroom (the forest…gosh), environmental science, outdoor science, and all other tree hugging student and kid loving things that keep us engaged, passionate, driven, loving our job, digging our life, and spreading the word to anyone whose attention we can hold for long enough to actually make it through reading this entire sentence. Whew…. www.dirtyclassroom.com

¹ Sicherer SH, Munoz-Furlong A, Godbold JH, Sampson HA. US prevalence of self-reported peanut, tree nut, and sesame allergy: 11-year follow-up. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2010; 125(6):1322-6. [LINK to ADVANCING A CURE>FARE Research Grants>Selected Completed Studies > Sicherer, Prevalence of Peanut and Tree Nut Allergy in the United States]