It was like watching a “zombie plague” and it took “only seconds”, parenting blogger Sophie Cachia said about watching her son, now aged three, suffer an anaphylactic reaction.
It happened as almost every near-tragedy happens: everything is so simply, blisteringly normal, until it is not.
“It was 2016 and our little family was living in Adelaide,” the now-26-year-old wrote for Wattle Health.
“That day I hadn’t really gotten around to organising anything for dinner, but I was stoked to find a pre-made pasta sauce in our fridge ready to go! I whipped up some ravioli and popped on the pumpkin and walnut sauce.”
Cachia, who created The Young Mummy, said she wondered if her son Bobby had tried walnuts before. She knew he had enjoyed muffins and banana bread with no reaction, that he’d been exposed to peanuts, almonds and pine nuts without problem. She thought walnuts should be fine.
His reaction started when a spoonful of sauce landed on his arm but Cachia mistook it for a burn.
“Thinking I was the worst mum ever for allowing my son to burn himself, I quickly cleaned him up and, just as I did, he simultaneously popped a spoonful of sauce in his mouth. No pasta, just sauce,” she wrote.
That’s when things became dangerous, with Bobby’s reaction turning into the “zombie plague” that “only took seconds”.
“His mouth started to bubble and mini-hives appeared before I even had time to say ‘CRAP’,” she wrote. “I could see the hives getting bigger and spreading all over his cheeks, his ears, up the back of his neck and starting to go down his chest. He started to scratch like a dog and cough.”
Panic quickly set in and Cachia first thought to call her mum. She then messaged her husband’s football coach while Jaryd Cachia, who played for the South Australian National Football League at the time, was at training.
Jaryd ran home – he was just down the street – and the pair hopped in the car to race an increasingly irritated Bobby to the emergency room.
“The panic in these situations is so high that we just went, “JUMP IN THE CAR!” because together we thought we could get there quicker. In hindsight, this was a TERRIBLE move,” Cachia wrote for Wattle Health.
“In those 10 seconds of grabbing my bag, with Bobby under my arm, the most horrific thoughts started going through my head: I’m going to kill my son.”
LISTEN: One-in-six people are ACTUALLY gluten free. Post continues below.
The three of them hit traffic and Cachia desperately tried to catch the attention of a police car, which she thought might be able to get them to the hospital faster. She tried speeding. She told Jaryd to take Bobby from his car seat. She knew it was unsafe, but she thought her baby was dying.
“The lump in my throat as I write this is making me feel queasy,” she wrote. “I was a maniac. I was screaming at the top of my lungs for cars to move or for the lights to change, even contemplating getting out and running to the hospital (again, my logic in this situation was not great).”
“My greatest fear started to kick in when the choking, vomiting and crying turned to utter silence. Bobby had gone limp. Jaryd said, ‘C’mon buddy. Wake up’. This is when I vomited on myself driving and let out a scream that I didn’t even know was inside of me. I was a desperate mum who had made a bad decision. ‘This is it’, I thought. ‘I’ve killed my boy’.”
Finally, they reached the emergency room and, though they were told to wait, a nurse who heard Cachia’s screams rushed in to help them. It was an experience, Cachia said, she “wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy”.
Bobby was diagnosed anaphylactic to both walnuts and pecans, and now, the heaviness of his allergies and the fragility of his life hangs over Cachia.
“That whole scenario would have all happened in no more than 15-20 minutes,” Cachia wrote. “If he is to come across walnuts again the reaction will be greater. Perhaps quicker. Perhaps fatal.”
“Luckily for us, we walked out of the hospital that time with a healthy boy and two educated parents.”
Bobby now carries an Epipen, as well as an asthma puffer and Zyrtec drops, wherever he goes.
Sophie and Jaryd also now have a daughter, Florence, born in January last year.
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Top Comments
The great shame of this article is that nowhere does it say that the best thing to do in this situation is call for an ambulance.
Call 000, put the phone on speaker.
Go unlock the front door while the operator takes your address details... so the paramedics can walk straight inside.
If you have a jumpy/ barky dog, secure them so they don't attack the paramedics.
Don't hang up - stay on the line until paramedics arrive.
Even better, before you have a baby, take a first aid & CPR course.
Always have a current ambulance membership, even as a single person - it is very affordable. You hope to never need it, but it's such a peace of mind. No one wants to hesitate in a grave situation thinking about money, when the average cost of an emergency transport is in excess of $1,100 if you don't have membership.
Note: Health insurance often does not cover all situations, e.g. transfer between hospitals, and non lights & sirens situations.
Do not hesitate to call for help!
Even if it turns out not to be as bad as you thought - you can live with an over-reaction. But if it is as bad as you thought, or worse, you don;t want to regret that you under-reacted.
Please don't think you can manage the situation yourself, or with your partner.
In the above situation, unfortunately Sophia and her husband's actions of:
- leaping into the car
- speeding
- driving while under great stress, and with adrenaline pumping through them
- getting her son out of his car seat
... means that they put themselves, their child, other drivers, passengers, cyclists and pedestrians at enormous risk.
Paramedics could have been working on her son and administering medications/ accessing any necessary equipment as soon as they reached the house, and also in the ambulance if he'd been taken to hospital.
Let's not forget, ambulances have sirens and lights they can switch on in traffic too. Yet another advantage.
I know what I am on about. Our son spent his first 261 days in hospital.
One day when he was at his worst, about a year ago now, the emergency button was pressed by his nurse five times in 24 hours.
On more than one day, we witnessed all doctors in the unit come run/walking into his room and crowd his little bed. Over seven of them. Maybe nine. Frightening.
So the decision to be get ambulance membership for our family was a no-brainer.
The decision to undertake first aid and CPR training as parents was a no-brainer.
When it comes to a medical emergency, don't hesitate. Don't chance it. Be calm and take decisive action.
Thank you for sharing. I'm confused as to what ambulance membership is? Is this not covered in all states/territories? I'm in QLD and ambulance call-outs are 'free' as the price is covered in the electricity bill.
It differs between the states/territories. In some jurisdictions you need an ambulance service membership, in some it’s covered under private health insurance and then as you say in QLD you pay as part of your utilities. I think pensioners/health care card holders may get free transport under certain circumstances. But agree with guest that everyone should confirm their cover because it’s really expensive if you are not covered!
Well said. I'd like to add that it's important to refresh first aid/CPR knowledge (preferably annually) so that in an emergency, you go into auto pilot instead of panic mode.
Here in NSW, I believe it's $350 to just have an ambulance come out and more if you're actually transported to hospital. You can take out ambulance-only cover (or have it as a part of your regular cover) with a private health insurance company and that will cover the cost. Looking online, they come out free for pensioners and people who need an ambulance after a sexual assault or child/domestic violence situation as well. I'm not sure what it's like in other states but I think I remember reading that Queensland's system is unique.
How is it that we are able to quite easily and readily accept that whilst most people are not affected negatively by consuming nuts, for the minority it does affect it can be catastrophic whilst blanket measures - where the mantra of “it’s safe and effective” is akin to an edict of religious proportions - that affect some people differently is vastly ignored?