HELEN DALLEY: It's a parent's nightmare. Your 7-year-old is at school camp in a remote part of Sydney's outskirts — fun and games supposed to be the order of the day. But something goes horribly wrong. One minute your child is happy, healthy. The next minute, quite literally, he is at death's door, fighting desperately for his life.

 

SOPHIA NEOU: One day they rang me, the teacher, cry and said, "He's turning blue and he's stopped breathing." I nearly died. I was nearly die, too. I don't know what to do.

 

PARAMEDIC: He developed shortness of breath. He got very anxious and agitated and then his airways started to swell around his lips, his throat and then his blood pressure dropped and that's when he passed out.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Running dangerously low on resuscitation drugs for young William, the ambulance paramedics can no longer cope on their own and a medical emergency team from CareFlight is called in.

 

DR SHANE TREVITHICK, CAREFLIGHT: He was critically ill when we arrived. He was deep purple in colour because he didn't have enough oxygen in his blood. He was only barely conscious. He started vomiting, which threatened to fill his airway with vomit. He was desperately ill. His heart had slowed down to 40 beats a minute, which is critically low in a small child. Normally we expect it to be 150 beats a minute in a sick child but he was 30 seconds from an unrecoverable cardiac and respiratory arrest — 30 seconds from death.

 

HELEN DALLEY: William has mild asthma throughout the day, already weakening his immune system, but the medical team recognises that the severity and speed of this life-threatening assault on his airways is not because of his asthma but, rather, is the result of something seemingly benign — dinner.

 

DR SHANE TREVITHICK: Around dinner time, somehow, despite the best efforts of everyone looking after him, he'd been exposed to something he was allergic to. And it was immediately obvious when we looked at him that an anaphylaxis had taken place. His airway was swollen, his lips and tongue were swollen and he had a lot of difficulty breathing and, together with the collapse, it was quite clear that he had an anaphylaxis, and your chance of dying from anaphylaxis increases if you have asthma.

 

HELEN DALLEY: William's rapid decline is nothing short of terrifying.

 

DR SHANE TREVITHICK: In his case, it happened over about 10 minutes. From exposure to collapse, it can be as little as 5-10 minutes.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Frighteningly, the drama happening to little William is occurring in many families right across Australia. Allergies to food, particularly peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, milk, seafood, can be so strong, they cause an anaphylactic reaction — a reaction so severe in some children, it shocks any parent who witnesses it.

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: Anaphylaxis is probably one of the scariest things you'll want to witness. They swell up, their face swells up. More importantly, their airways swell up and that's what stops them breathing.

 

HELEN DALLEY: You can see it right there in front of your eyes?

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: Oh, it's happening right in front of your eyes.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Happens within, what?

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: Almost instantaneous.

 

RICHARD BRINCKMAN: It was the most frightening thing I've ever seen. In some ways, I'm glad it almost happened with so many friends and family around because they were all able to experience how severe it is and it certainly changed their mindset.

 

DR JANE PEAKE, PAEDIATRIC IMMUNOLOGIST: I often describe anaphylaxis to parents as being a bit like an avalanche with the snow coming down the mountain and you really don't know where that snow is going to stop. It's difficult to tell when an anaphylactic reaction is developing whether or not it will be life-threatening. And if the snow is falling right down the mountain and is approaching the village, there comes a point when there's almost nothing you can do.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Tragically, some anaphylactic reactions are fatal.

 

CHERYL WHITBURN: Someone's missing. There's a big hole in our family, a huge hole in our family, and his name is Johnny.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Cheryl and John Whitburn lost their 15-year-old son, Johnny, six years ago, after a severe and rapid allergic reaction to a tiny amount of peanut he mistakenly ate.

 

JOHN WHITBURN: I lost my first wife through cancer, I lost my father, I lost my mother. That's nothing compared to what it's like to lose your son or a child, whether it be a son or a daughter. But losing anybody else is nowhere near. For all the world, Helen, somebody has put a hand inside you and just ripped it out.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Everything still must be so raw for you but can you believe that this was the outcome from eating a natural food, and maybe only eating the tiniest amount? SANDRA HEALY: Yes. It's just — It's just unbelievable. Life is so precious. And to be taken so suddenly.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Sandra and Greg Healy's 15-year-old daughter, Kareen, who suffered food allergies all her life, died during a game of her beloved touch footy, after an anaphylactic reaction to a shaving of peanut she, too, ate by mistake.

 

SANDRA HEALY: She actually went into respiratory failure but they did get her heart going again. But they said that she had been down too long. We didn't know at that time she had passed away there, at the ground. We were obviously hopeful that that wasn't the case.

 

HELEN DALLEY: As these families struggle with their grief, an overall picture of fatalities is difficult to pin down. Official figures on the number of anaphylactic deaths in Australia are not kept, but experts in the field say at least six people have died in the past five years in NSW alone. Several were children. And while deaths are rare, the incidents of severe food allergies is increasing.

 

DR ALYSON KAKAKIOS, ALLERGY DEPT, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, WESTMEAD: We have quite a lot of evidence to suggest that, over the past 10-20 years, that the incidence of all allergic diseases has either doubled or tripled and food allergy is one of those disorders.

 

DR ROB LOBLAY, ALLERGY UNIT, RPA HOSPITAL: The anecdotal experience in our clinic and others is that 10 years ago we might have seen a handful of children with a peanut allergy in a year. In the last 4-5 years, we've seen a handful a week. It's suddenly shot up quite remarkably.

 

HELEN DALLEY: And those children with the most severe type of food allergy, exposing them to the risk of a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction, are also increasing.

 

DR SHANE TREVITHICK: 10 years ago, when I started working in emergency departments, I very rarely remember seeing an anaphylaxis. Over the last few years we've been seeing more and more. And about once every two or three weeks in the emergency department now we'd have someone who requires adrenaline to treat the symptoms of anaphylaxis.

 

DR ALYSON KAKAKIOS: That incidence is now higher and we would regard food allergy to be as common as 3% to 5%.

 

HELEN DALLEY: So 3 to 5 in 100 children have a severe food allergy in this country?

 

DR ALYSON KAKAKIOS: Yes, will have a food allergy and we're not sure of exactly what percentage actually are at risk of an anaphylaxis, but we regard about 3%, i.e., 3 in 100 children are having that type of food allergy.

 

HELEN DALLEY: That's 30 in every 1,000 children in Australia are at at risk of severe allergic reaction to a food. Alarming figures, particularly since many of us dismiss food allergies as nothing more serious than causing hives, sneezing or a bit of scratching.

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: There's a lot of ignorance out there. They're not aware of it because they haven't been confronted with it, or exposed to it, or know anyone that has got it. So, therefore, they tend to be bit blase about allergies in general.

 

HELEN DALLEY: And can you afford to be blase?

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: Definitely not.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Scientists admit they just don't know why allergies are on the rise, but they believe that, first, you must have a genetic predisposition to allergies, then our environment plays a major role.

 

DR ALYSON KAKAKIOS: The environmental influences that are operating within our societies are such that they are actually driving the immune systems of young children down the allergic pathway.

 

HELEN DALLEY: In other words, infants are not getting the right bacteria to help their immune systems protect them from allergy. Even many medical practitioners continue to treat food allergy as the poor relation.

 

DR JANE PEAKE: I have a concern because many GPs, paediatricians, physicians, a lot of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, child health nurses don't have a lot of information about this. So a lot of misinformation is, unfortunately, given which can lead to children having more problems than are required and perhaps not having the appropriate treatment It's something the doctors are recognising they can no longer dismiss.

 

HELEN DALLEY: But Kelly Markam's experience illustrates a dangerous lack of knowledge among many doctors. When her 3-year-old, Chantelle, was just a year old, she had her first attack after eating toast dipped in egg.

 

KELLY MARKHAM: As soon as it touched her mouth, she swelled. I immediately grabbed the phone, rang the doctor. They said, "Ring an ambulance", which I did. Within 10 minutes, the ambulance had pulled up, she stopped breathing and they had to administer adrenaline through an injection.

 

HELEN DALLEY: So, within 10 minutes of her standing in front of you, she changed incredibly?

 

KELLY MARKHAM: Yes. She swelled to probably 10 times her size and broke out in hives.

 

HELEN DALLEY: When Kelly took Chantelle back to her GP she was stunned by his ignorance of what had caused her daughter's life-threatening attack.

 

KELLY MARKHAM: He had the report from the hospital and I explained to him again what had happened. He said to me, "You just fed her egg too early. "Take her home and feed her egg in six months."

 

HELEN DALLEY: While the GP missed it, Chantelle was eventually diagnosed as severely allergic to egg white.

 

KELLY MARKHAM: I knew people could get sick from food, I knew that people would vomit from food, but not that it could stop a person breathing.

 

HELEN DALLEY: You never knew that food could kill?

 

KELLY MARKHAM: No, until it happened to me.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Tracey and Richard Brinckman and their highly allergic little boy, Sam, also learned the hard way about the lack of allergy awareness among some of the medical profession.

 

TRACEY BRINCKMAN: He was eating dinner, he was sitting eating dinner, and he started coughing and then it escalated and escalated. We didn't know what was going on. So Richard ended up taking him to the GP.

 

RICHARD BRINCKMAN: The GP thought he was choking and he was a bit alarmed because of the way he was struggling for breath. His first reaction was to start patting him on the back. That had no effect at all so, he soon grabbed Sam by the feet, hung him upside down, and shook him and shook him and shook him and shook him.

 

HELEN DALLEY: So baby Sam's true condition went undiagnosed. The GP didn't know what it was and, when Sam was rushed to hospital, doctors there were equally stumped.

 

RICHARD BRINCKMAN: What they told us is, "We're not sure. "We thought he was choking, we've done the bronchoscopy. "We weren't really able to find anything."

 

HELEN DALLEY: After four emergency visits to hospital, Sam's condition was continually misdiagnosed as croup.

 

TRACEY BRINCKMAN: I asked if it could be an allergy and they ended up doing a blood test on him.

 

HELEN DALLEY: After a 5-month wait to see paediatric immunologist Dr Jane Peake Sam was then properly diagnosed.

 

TRACEY BRINCKMAN: He was allergic to egg as well as peanut and she said that I had to throw, basically, all the food out in my cupboard that contained egg or nut traces or nuts completely because it could possibly kill him. I suppose I walked out of her office thinking, "This is not that severe, he's fine. He's healthy."

 

HELEN DALLEY: Surely she's exaggerating?

 

TRACEY BRINCKMAN: Well, yeah.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Armed with the EpiPen, an auto-injecting dose of life-saving adrenaline, Richard was still to get the shock of his life at a family gathering.

 

RICHARD BRINCKMAN: We were sitting at the table talking and I heard Sam's cough — that seal bark cough that he would get. Looked over — he's got a spoon with pavlova on it. So I've straight away kicked the chair over — "Oh my God, he's got some pavlova." And I've run over, picked him up and taken him up to the counter. Within about 30 seconds he started to turn blue.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Within 30 seconds?

 

RICHARD BRINCKMAN: It was almost immediately. Probably within another minute, Sam was completely blue from head to toe and couldn't breathe at all.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Richard grabbed the EpiPen and jabbed the adrenaline needle into Sam's thigh.

 

RICHARD BRINCKMAN: He was completely limp and I was trying to shake him to not lose consciousness and I'm thinking that the EpiPen didn't work so I've quickly put him onto the floor to try and give him CPR. His tongue or throat or something was so swollen, no matter what I did, you couldn't get any air into him at all. I looked up at one stage to my friend, who was trying to help me, and there was a feeling of 'we're not going to win this'.

 

HELEN DALLEY: As Richard thought he was losing his son, the adrenaline started to take effect.

 

RICHARD BRINCKMAN: It was miraculous. Sam just suddenly had a — (wheeze) — and he breathed a little bit. The feeling was tremendous and then he did it again. The colour started to come back into his skin. It was of the moments I'll never forget.

 

DR JANE PEAKE: He's one of those children that came close to not making it. And I think that if the father didn't have an EpiPen, I doubt Sam would be with us today.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Most of us don't understand a true allergy like young Sam's. While some people have minor attacks, anaphylaxis or a severe allergic reaction occurs when an allergen, like peanut protein, normally harmless, is ingested. The immune system goes into overdrive. Antibodies believe the allergen, represented here by the green spiky balls, is an enemy invader, and they trigger a major defensive reaction, releasing masses of chemicals into the tissues to try and protect the body, causing inflammation. That leads to the varying symptoms from itchiness, hives and, more dangerously, loss of blood pressure, swelling of the airways and passing out. Antihistamine drugs and adrenaline work to stop the reaction. But Richelle Townsend didn't have the benefit of such a life-saver as adrenaline.

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: No, no EpiPen. Never even heard of an EpiPen back then.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Richelle and her husband, Shane, knew she was asthmatic and peanut allergic, but 15 years ago EpiPen wasn't even available in Australia. They had no idea how severe an allergic attack could be till she had one.

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: When I first saw this allergy at her boss's place, it looked like she had done 12 rounds with Mike Tyson. You could hardly see her eyes, they were that swollen. Her face swelled up. She was like that way — took her about a week for it to go down.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Thinking her allergy was under control, the pair loved to eat out at Asian restaurants in Sydney's Newtown — Richelle always careful to avoid peanuts. But one night in 1991, with new baby Caitlin in tow, they ate in a Thai restaurant. Shane says he quizzed staff about their use of peanuts and peanut oil.

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: The maitre d, who came to the table, went back to the kitchen, came back, reassured us that this dish, this dish, this dish, did not contain peanuts. They did not cook with the peanut oil.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Despite assurances, Richelle somehow had just a trace of peanut, triggering a catastrophic reaction. Starting to feel unwell, her eyes puffing up, they left the restaurant.

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: She was pushing the stroller for a while there and said, "Can you take over?" And I thought, "Yeah, fine." I looked at her and said, "Are you OK?" And she said, "No, I'm not." And that's basically when she collapsed. Richelle was just going blue and was all puffed up and I just sort of ripped open her shirt and started putting breath into her and giving her CPR, with the help of my brother-in-law.

 

HELEN DALLEY: But Shane was unable to revive his adored wife and she was rushed to hospital.

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: I thought she was going to die. And now I wish she had of.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Richelle had finally emerged from her coma but irreparably damaged. She had been deprived of oxygen for too long.

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: I don't think she's got a quality of life. I don't think she ever has had a quality of life since that day. And her condition I would only describe as severely brain damaged.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Wheelchair-bound, fed through a tube, Richelle now lives in a nursing home. Shane says she hasn't heard her speak for 10 years. A young mother with her future before her, and a whole family's life shattered by anaphylaxis.

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: It's too hard watching the way she is. It's too hard watching the way my children react when she's there. And watching my in-laws grow old before their time. Sorry.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Tragically, the couple's two daughters, Caitlin and Keah, were too young to remember their mum as she was, but grew up with her as she is now.

 

CAITLIN TOWNSEND: It's probably been harder for him than, like, us because he knew her when she was well and seeing her go from being, like, one day she was perfect, everything was good, and the next day they go out and she's just in a coma. Sometimes the way people talk about her it's hard, because they talk about how good she used to be and how beautiful she was and how special she was.

 

KEAH TOWNSEND: We've never known her like that. We've only known her being in a wheelchair, like ...

 

CAITLIN TOWNSEND: Yeah.

 

HELEN DALLEY: The family sued the restaurant to cover the exorbitant costs of Richelle's constant medical care. The case took almost 10 years to get to court and was finally settled for an undisclosed amount. But apart from a compensation, Shane and Richelle's family had high hopes the celebrated case would wake people up to the potential devastation of food allergy.

 

SHANE TOWNSEND: I just thought that maybe through this that someone would pick up the ball and run with it, but it doesn't seem to have happened.

 

HELEN DALLEY: While support groups and specialists have tried to raise awareness in recent years, the message has simply not got through to the whole community. Just six years ago, teenager Johnny Whitburn and his parents knew little of the danger posed by his allergies.

 

CHERYL WHITBURN: It's like a nightmare. It's like — we seem to come up against a brick wall all the time when the information was there — we know now the information was there — but no-one bothered to sort of tell us what an anaphylactic reaction was.

 

HELEN DALLEY: According to his mum, Cheryl, as a baby, Johnny had shocking eczema, often closely associated with food allergy.

 

CHERYL WHITBURN: Johnny would wake 10-15 times a night, scratching, drawing blood and I'd have to be up to him and he just got worse.

 

HELEN DALLEY: At seven, he was finally diagnosed as allergic to many foods. His mother thoroughly eliminated them from his diet but she says it was still never explained to them what the consequences could be.

 

CHERYL WHITBURN: Unbelievable. More unbelievable that we didn't know — I cannot believe that all the specialists we went to couldn't say that it was possible for someone to have a reaction so severe that it would kill them.

 

HELEN DALLEY: No-one told you that?

 

CHERYL WHITBURN: No-one. No-one.

 

HELEN DALLEY: At 15, he was excited to go on work experience.

 

CHERYL WHITBURN: I packed his lunch for him, packed him a cheese sandwich, which he could have, and I said, "We'll see you tonight." We never saw him alive again.

 

HELEN DALLEY: Johnny joined the adults for take-away lunch, but instead of his plain, cheese sandwich, he ate fried rice with, mistakenly, a little bit of satay sauce on it.

 

CHERYL WHITBURN: Within half an hour, he said to his mate that he was with, "I'm getting hot." He tried to use his asthma spray. He said, "It's not working." And then he said, "Ring an ambulance." He must have known he was in trouble and then he basically dropped to the ground.

 

HELEN DALLEY: He dropped to the ground?

 

CHERYL WHITBURN: Dropped to the ground and that was it. That was it.

 

HELEN DALLEY: At first the hospital said it was an asthma attack, but it was later determined to be anaphylaxis, causing respiratory failure. Johnny had been without oxygen for too long and he died.

 

CHERYL WHITBURN: I, myself, felt so guilty because I feel as though I saved our son's life for 15 years but the day he got away from me, the first time he got away from me, we lost him. And I feel as though I should have tried to get more information but I don't know where I could have got it from, what I could have done than what we did. Because if we had of known he could have carried an adrenaline needle and maybe given it to himself, he would have been here today.

 

HELEN DALLEY: The Healy family also wants the community to fully understand the consequences of severe food allergy. SANDRA HEALY: It's a silent killer, I suppose. And that when mothers are crying out for help for the teachers, for their friends, for their friends' mothers for everyone, that they're not being paranoid, they're actually just trying to look after their children, and it's really hard for mums to let go because that's the risk. As soon as they let go, someone else is in control and you're never quite sure what the outcome is going to be. And Kareen was smart, she was clever, and she knew about her foods, so we don't understand what has happened here.