Categories: Health

Two-year-old girl tries new foods in hospital parking lot

Gemma Whatling

Seren had her first anaphylactic shock at eight months old

A two-year-old suffers from allergies so severe that her parents have to make her try new foods in hospital parking lots in case she goes into anaphylactic shock.

Gemma Whatling said she and her husband Nick tried food, including almonds and prawns, with Seren outside the hospital after having to wait for an ambulance following bad reactions to food at the House.

“It reassures us because we know we can get her to hospital quickly if she suffers from anaphylaxis,” said the 42-year-old from Vale of Glamorgan.

The Welsh Government said it was carrying out a “scoping exercise” to understand the quality of the service for people with food allergies.

Gemma said she and Nick first suspected Seren had allergies when she was three months old, as she had “very sore skin, generalized eczema and it was difficult to control”.

On the advice of doctors, they “cautiously” introduced different foods with Seren, and her first anaphylactic shock happened when she was eight months old after eating cow’s milk in a meal.

Seren has now needed treatment with an EpiPen six times, Gemma said, and there are some foods she has to try in hospital, but others – like almonds, prawns, chickpeas and lentils – were told the family could try them at home. .

“It’s not always easy to identify food triggers, which is why we’re very nervous about introducing them into the home because it’s far from the hospital,” she said .

In some cases, she added, the couple has tested food with her in a hospital parking lot “because we know we can get her to the hospital quickly if she has anaphylaxis.”

She said the NHS staff who treated Seren had been “fantastic” but there were “limited” services for people with allergies and they vary according to health advice.

In Wales there are two specialist NHS allergy services, run by members of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI)both in Cardiff.

In contrast, there are more than 100 in England listed on the BSACI website.

The family hopes to undertake a “oral eating challenge” – which helps determine if there is a food allergy – for Seren, but they are on the waiting list at a neighboring health board because the service is not available at theirs.

Gemma Whatling

Seren’s mum Gemma Whatling says it’s ‘extremely scary’ to have a child with severe allergies

Gemma described having a child with severe allergies as “extremely scary”.

“Just because there are situations where she tolerated a small amount one time doesn’t mean she will the next time,” she added.

“It’s scary. Our anxiety level is extremely high.”

Seren goes to daycare several times a week and her parents “try to give her as normal a life as possible.”

“We have to prepare for everything she has there – we anticipate and plan, and we try to make sure she doesn’t get left behind,” she said.

The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation said allergies were “a serious medical condition that can be life-threatening.”

Founder Tanya Laperouse wants a UK government-appointed allergy tsar to “stand up for the one in three allergy sufferers living in the UK”.

She said their role would be to combat the “allergy epidemic” and increase the number of specialist clinics “so that people do not need to travel sometimes hundreds of kilometers to receive the care they need.” need.”

The Welsh Government said health boards were responsible for planning and delivering allergy-related services, in line with the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

He added: “However, we recognize that benefits vary across health boards and we are currently undertaking a scoping exercise to better understand gaps in benefits, access arrangements and waiting times to access services. »

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