Posted on 12/22/2004 8:48:11 PM PST by ijcr
A woman with a severe allergy to tomatoes died after opening a tin of spaghetti bolognese, it emerged yesterday.
Raya French, 37, a part-time receptionist from Tankerton in Kent, was preparing dinner for her four children two weeks ago when the tomato sauce in the can sent her into anaphylactic shock.
She was taken to hospital, but never regained consciousness. She was allowed to die four days later after her family decided that she had no chance of survival.
Mrs French developed an allergy to raw tomatoes three years ago, and would come out in hives and suffer asthma attacks. Recently the reactions had become more severe.
Her husband, Stephen, said yesterday that despite what had happened, his wife would still want their children - Alexandra, 15, Tom, 10, Maddison, six, and Louis, four - to enjoy the festive season.
"It's been a very difficult time, but we're working towards Christmas," he said.
Canon Patrick Sales, the vicar of All Saints church in nearby Whitstable, said that more than 300 people had attended her funeral last Wednesday.
"She was a governor at the local school where her children were pupils.
"She knew a lot of people in the community and there was a big response to her death."
Mr Sales said of Mrs French's husband and children: "They have been very brave and positive about all this."
I would end my life if I were allergic to coffee. I live for coffee. If I were allergic to caffiene, I could live on decaffienated coffee. But coffee altogether? No way.
I hope it wasn't hard for you to give up coffee.
If your life were at stake, would you take the chance?
Her husband did say that her attacks had recently started to become more severe.
My wife has always been allergic to raspberries. Fresh picked or from the store unprocessed. In recent years it has become an allergy to any form of raspberry. Fresh or in preserves, it doesn't matter.
Great.
Don't let my sister in law read about this.
Magically, her severely overmedicated children will develop this malady.
You should see the pathetically long list of "special food requirements" she subjects anyone who comes into casual contact with her kids is subject to.
We have some mutual friends who have 4 boys who have a real genetic intolerance for sugar. Four out of about 500 kids in the US. Magically, all five of my nieces and nephews have the same problem.
Listen, obviously, she made a HUGE mistake. I just don't understand why everyone here is making it out to be anything more than a terrible tragedy.
I have the EXACT same reaction. It's actually kind of scary. I didn't have the problem as a child, though, only as an adult. I thought it might be due to the excessive sugar in a banana, but now I think it might be an allergic reaction or a food sensitivity. Though it's odd that these things just pop up.
Tell you one thing about tomatoes we get up here in the northeast during wintertime. Smaller, no juice, hard as a rock and completely tasteless.
Certainly sounds like a rock.
What makes you think they're tomotoes? =;^)
I have that reaction to bananas too, but my doctor says its psychological.
That's a spicy meataball!
Sounds sort of stupid, don't you think?
Isn't that the truth?
I'm familiar with peanut allergies. I have a son who can die within minutes from swollowing minute particles of peanut. However, he has never reacted to atmospheric exposure to peanuts.
Many people with the allergy do. Some react to traces in the air. Some of the kids collapse from touching something that was touched by someone with traces of peanut butter on their hands.
However, someday Jesse will probably react to atmospheric exposure. In the meantime, he is living a normal life, only scrutinizing what he eats.
It's a tough thing for a kid to have to deal with something like that. My prayers to him.
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