What to Know
Rayden Vollrath wanted to lend a helping hand with some yard work at his family’s Illinois home. The 7-year-old started pulling weeds, and what started as a typical weekend afternoon became very serious in an instant.
Rayden had an allergic reaction to pokeweed and wound up in anaphylactic shock. Now his mom, Danielle Carnicelli, wants to warn others so their children don’t have the same frightening reaction.
The milk from the pokeweed reportedly caused a reaction on Rayden’s face.
Carnicelli told WGEM Rayden was pulling the pokeweed from along the fence when things took a frightening turn.
“Long story short, he came in contact with pokeweed and the milk from the stalk got on his nails, I’m guessing, or some sort. He went to scratch his face and then ended up being an allergic reaction, which then progressed to anaphylactic shock,” she said.
Rayden added that his skin burned and itched. “It hurt. A lot. My chest was burning, and I couldn’t breathe,” he said.
Rayden’s mother did her best to soothe him.
Carnicelli told WGEM that she and hospital staff tried to cool the little boy’s skin, but it was a challenge.
“Very traumatic experience. It was like it was okay and then it wasn’t. I’m sorry. And then I didn’t know what to do; the nurses didn’t know what to do besides just throwing rags on him and hopefully just calming the burn sensation because he couldn’t sleep, and it was like 3 o’clock in the morning,” Carnicelli said.
It took two days for doctors to confirm Rayden had a reaction to pokeweed.
Carnicelli hopes to warn other parents.
The dangers of pokeweed were new to the family, but Carnicelli hopes that Rayden’s story can help other families avoid the same kind of reaction.
“It was more of like a swell and when he started to swell it would just not come down and I just warn parents in general to just be mindful of your location and where you’re at,” Carnicelli said. “See the purples, the berries, just educate yourself before you let your children or anybody come in contact with it.”
She also shared a message of gratitude with loved ones who prayed for him during his hospitalization.
“24 hours later we are being release with an EpiPen 8 different medications to help the symptoms, swelling is completely down for the most part, has super dry skin do to the intensity of being that swollen, next 24 hrs have to rotate medications every 8 hours. Rayden is a spit fire and with all glory to god himself for this recovery. Thank you everyone who has said kind words and more info I wasn’t even aware of. Thank to everyone picture attached,” she wrote on Facebook.
Rayden learned a valuable lesson.
The next time Rayden works in the yard, he said he’s going to be extra cautious.
“I’m gonna wear long sleeves, long pants, huge shoes,” Rayden said.
He also plans to wear boots and gloves to be sure that his skin doesn’t come into contact with anything potentially dangerous, like the pokeweed.
Per WGEM, pokeweed is fatal to animals and humans if ingested.
