The mother of an Irish teenager who died on the corner of a Dublin street from a nut allergy has called for immediate action to be taken to prevent the same thing happening to another family.
Caroline Sloan told RTE’s Liveline this week that her 14-year-old daughter’s last words were “I’m not going to make it” as she died after accidentally eating a peanut-based sauce in a city restaurant. While members of the family had ran to a pharmacy to get an EpiPen for Emma, they were refused as she did not have a prescription from a doctor and Caroline is now appealing for a new ‘passport’ system to be brought in for those suffering from life-threatening allergies.
“She knew, God love her, that she was dying. I knew she was gone before the fire brigade got to her. I knew by her eyes. Her sisters watched her die on the street corner and there was nothing any of us could do. Panic sets in, you’re not thinking straight. I don’t think we could have done any more,” she said.
“If we had known she needed this pen, of course we would have carried it. Our plea is for these pens to be made available everywhere there’s children and food. We’re also looking for some form of identification for people that have these allergies. That they can go into chemists and show ID [so] they can give them the pen if they need it.This can never happen again to another family, it just can’t. It would go some way towards knowing that it won’t happen to anyone else.”
