7-Year-Old Ammaria Johnson Dies of Peanut Reaction at School

I am so thankful that my children do not have allergies. And my heart breaks for this family. May that little angel rest in peace. Perhaps this will serve to remind some parents that when it comes to your child's safety, you don't take No for an answer. Fight tooth and nail if you have to in order to keep your child safe. You don't get a second chance. It's our job. The school says leave the Epi pen home? Screw the schools opinion, No I will not and I will be making sure it is where it should be and that the school staff is trained to use it and understand WHY they have to if need be.

i'm a parent of an anaphylactic and asthmatic child...i can not express how challenging and frustrating our experiences have been. we are blessed that we have always been able to keep looking for the right fit for my son, to keep him included, involved, and alive. he stopped breathing at three months, when i switched him from breast milk to a cows milk based baby formula...i never knew a someone could die from consuming a food...we went through countless of specialists and it took us over 9 months for a medical professional to finally acknowledge that our baby was severly allergic to many foods...our son thrived on about four foods for his first three years of life...now at 8 yrs old he can eat about 14 foods without causing him serious problems...i've been told by schools that he can not carry his own epi pen jr nor his inhaler...even though in California they have a law that allows students to carry and self administer with doctors & parents signature on file...i've been told that they have their own epi pens on hand that i didn't need to stock the school with our own...yet last year i provided the school with 2 sets and i would remind the staff on field trip days to take his meds and they couldn't find them!!! it was maddening! people don't get it. i am blessed that we now have a great fit (private progress school) that takes it all very seriously and keeps him totally included and involved. long short thank you all for reading. yes, i wish i could keep him home and safe forever but he is a bright boy that loves people, loves kids, and wants to so badly be in school.

My son's friend had a severe allergy, I searched for a peanut free dessert. I thought I found it, took it to share and I nearly killed him. I had no idea he was rushed to hospital. His mother spent a night there with him as his dad was out of town. She did not know if he would survive. I have never forgotten it, this allergy is a killer, I will forever feel guilty. The company admitted to the mother that they processed peanuts in the same plant and had not labelled their products declaring such. They treated her disrespectfully and did not change their ways. A school or any other establishment should do whatever it can to help these children and prevent unnecessary pain and death.

What I don't understand is why on earth would the school NOT want the epi pen!? I used to teach. If I had a student with such an issue, I'd not feel comfortable working if there under conditions where one of my students could die so readily and preventably.

This is so sad and troubling

Banning peanuts won't help! First off, what if your kid had peanut butter in the morning before school? You clean them up and send them off but the allergic kid is allergic to their BREATH. How does ANYONE control for THAT?
And what about the kid who's old enough to walk to school and grabs a snack on the way. They didn't REALIZE there was peanut oil on/in the product. Ate it, wiped their hands, sharpened a pencil, allergic kid is next in line. BAM! Heck, there's even peanut oil in some LOTIONS! Who would think to look at HAND LOTION when trying to avoid PEANUTS?????
The ONLY way to protect the allergic kids is to keep their epi pens nearby and TRY to teach them what to do if they start having a reaction. And I personally would home school any child THAT young with an allergy that severe. It's TOO EASY for everyone else to screw up. Until my kid is old enough to be accountable for him/her self, I would NOT be putting his/her LIFE in the hands of a whole SLEW of strangers!

My son has a peanut allergy. He's 3.5 years old. All he knows is "I can't have peanuts or I have to go to the hospital." I find it highly disturbing that people think it's okay to send their children with allergen products when they likely knew there was a student in the class with the allergy. Maybe all schools don't do it but I know that ours do inform parents if a child has a life threatening allergy. Even if my son didn't have the allergy I would be completely sympathetic and understand to that family. Something my kid eats could literally kill another child. How does anyone see that as okay? Eliminating peanuts from schools doesn't seem like a big deal to me.(And didn't before I had my son) You want your kids to have a peanut butter like product cause its "all they'll eat" then look into peanut alternitives like sun butter. That stuff is really good and tastes pretty darn close. Also Theresa you're right, kids will come into contact with it all their lives but that doesn't mean that something shouldn't be done about it.There isn't a solid plan because if a kid goes into shock there is only one thing that can be done until they are in a hospital. Until someone can come up with a cure for the allergy there will always be problems and kids, especially the elementary ones don't always understand their actions and how they may effect another child. Parents need to be educated because apparently they aren't getting how dangerous it is for some kids. They also need to make their children aware. Anytime my son even stays with family, I'm terrified about what will happen because they don't always take the correct precautions. I can't even imagine what this family is going through when they had an epipen and for some reason were not allowed to have it at her school. It's sad and really upsetting because it could have been prevented one way or another and it wasn't. This family is in my thoughts.

My son does have an allergy....dog saliva. It's very rare, not many have it. It's not every dog. It's a hit and miss game. There are dogs every where. People even are bringing them into the stores now cause that's their "baby". So it's every time we go to the store, not kidding. So yes we do live it.

The suggestion to leave food out of the classroom I disagree with. There is plenty of food in the cafeteria for a child to come in contact with. There are actually some schools that don't have a cafeteria and the students have to eat in the classroom. The question I have is why was the parent told to leave the epi-pen at home? Lori.....what alternatives did you give for the child that would only eat peanut butter. Did your school have hot food? My son will only eat a peanut butter sandwich. We home school now but back when he was in a charter school that had no cafeteria and they ate in the class room. He was allowed the sandwich cause there was no kids with peanut allergies in the class room. Peanut allergies are serious and it requires a solid plan involving accountability/responsibility. Children who have this allergy are going to come in contact with peanuts the rest of their lives. You just can't ban peanuts. So I hope people don't panic but come up with some solid well thought out answers to this problem.

What is rarely said is that we, parents and PN/TN allergic children, battle this kind of ignorance daily. I simply don't trust anyone to adequately care for my son with his allergy. I say this daily - If you don't live it, you don't get it. Period.

My 5 yr old is a tree allergy and I freak out just putting her in Sunday school and making sure if I or her dad isn't around that that adult know how to use and protect her. This is just wrong for anyone to have said keep it at home..my kid not with me she has a backpack and her pen is with her at all time. I will not stand for someone being around her if they aren't going to protect her teach/nurse anyone. So so sooo sad.

My baby has a severe peanut allergy and I cannot understand why this is even a question. How about we feed your kid a bag of glass and see how he/she likes it. Oh no? It might kill him/ her you say, then let's not serve the bag of freaking glass.

I just can't believe that the school nurse told her to keep the epi pen at home. Learning how to use one was one of the first things we learned as new teacher hires in our school district. It doesn't even make sense that a nurse would say that.

Could not agree more. Try being the head of a school like I was and having parents warring at each other over this. Gotta say, those parents who said, "But my child ONLY eats peanut butter!" made me so mad. It was all I can do to not blurt out, "But this parent's child might DIE so your child can eat it!"

As a person with a peanut allergy, who carries an epi pen, I am extremely thankful that my children do not have these allergies.

It could have been prevented by making the school a peanut free zone. Peanuts can kill in less than a minute. It isn't about your right to eat what you want when you want.

I would be finding a different school if I was asked to leave the epi-pen at home. Obviously it's a matter of life and death.

And why in the world would she be asked to leave the epi pen at home?!!? I would question that immediately! This life-altering tragedy could have been prevented so easily, it's heartbreaking.

my concern is why the school nurse didnt have her Epi pen if her allergy was so severe