WHEN you and your children have never had an allergic reaction to anything, it’s natural to think that warnings about severe food allergies don’t apply to any of you. But the frightening truth is that serious food allergies can develop suddenly – and they can kill.

Emma Wileman’s son Haydn is a tragic example of how allergy can develop without obvious warnings.

The lively nine-year-old, who had asthma, had no idea he had an allergy.

Minutes after eating cereal with nuts in it he was retching, and within half an hour he’d had a cardiac arrest which killed him.

Tests showed he’d had an anaphylactic reaction to the nuts in his cereal. His mum Emma, from Newhaven, East Sussex, has now set up a charity, Haydn’s Wish, to raise awareness of the relationship between childhood asthma and food allergies, and is touring the country with TV doctor Hilary Jones to spread the word.

She says: “What happened to Haydn was out of the blue. We had no idea he had a nut allergy. He’d tried nuts before, although he didn’t particularly like them. But you can become allergic to anything at any time in your life. If your body decides to take an offence to something and you go into anaphylactic shock, it’s very dangerous very quickly.”

Haydn, who died in September 2011, had asthma, hayfever and mild eczema, and research suggests that these atopic conditions are linked with food allergies.

Wileman and Dr Hilary Jones are touring UK schools spreading their Best to Test message, and Emma explains: “We talk to children about allergies, explaining about anaphylaxis and telling them what to do if that happens.

“Although Haydn had severe asthma, it had never been explained to me that you have a much higher risk of becoming allergic to something.

Had Haydn been tested, his allergy might have been picked up.

As a mother, my personal goal is to have children at high risk of allergy tested. That would be wonderful.

It wouldn’t catch every single case of allergy, but it would catch some.”

Skin prick and blood allergy tests are free on the NHS, she says, although they are not necessarily easy to get.

Dr Hilary, health editor for ITV Breakfast, says: “We are urging parents, particularly of children with asthma, to seek help for tiny changes in their child’s symptoms, from patches of eczema to the onset of hay fever, that could indicate they are at risk of developing food allergies.”

He points out that 1.1 million children in the UK have asthma, and warns: “They are genetically more prone to other allergies including hay fever, eczema and food allergies.

Wileman points out that food allergies, where there is often a fairly quick reaction such as facial swelling, or vomiting, are different from milder and more common food intolerance, which occurs less quickly and may cause symptoms such as bloating and stomach cramps.

The most severe form of food allergy can cause anaphylaxis, which can occur within a few minutes to a few hours after eating a food such as nuts or fish. As well as facial swelling and vomiting, anaphylaxis may cause breathing difficulties, lightheadedness, itching, a rash and unconsciousness.

“The whole idea of the charity is to make people aware of this condition, so that they can help themselves,” says Wileman. “It’s not rare for people to die of this, particularly children.

“Parents need to research this issue, and if their child has red flag signs, such as having an asthma attack when they eat certain things, breathing difficulties, or getting eczema they’ve never had before, go to your GP and ask for them to be allergy tested.”

Anaphylaxis Campaign national co-ordinator Mandy East points out that allergies can develop in anyone at any time, but certain groups are more at risk, such as those who have allergies in their family, and children. Worryingly, UK hospital admissions for food allergies have increased fivefold since 1990.

East says: “The Anaphylaxis Campaign would encourage those who feel their child is in the increased risk category to seek medical advice if any signs suggesting an allergic reaction occur.”

She says allergy testing should be carried out alongside a full clinical history in order to calculate the actual risk of reaction: “While we would not suggest that everyone needs to get tested tomorrow, it’s important for parents to be aware of the symptoms.”

  • For more information visit haydns-wish.co.uk. For more on anaphylaxis, visit anaphylaxis.org.uk or ring the Anaphylaxis Campaign helpline: 01252- 542029.