Parents of kids with serious allergies are furious today after a mom's viral story about her daughter's fatal reaction to a peanut allergy has many on the Internet attacking the mother. After Kellie Travers-Stafford spoke out about what happened to her daughter, critics accused her of taking her grief out on a blameless company. However, Kellie is trying to raise awareness for others with food allergies and parents are rallying around her, saying that food allergies can happen to anyone no matter how careful you think you're being.
On July 12, Kellie broke the most heart-wrenching news a parent can share: Her daughter, Alexi, had died of a peanut allergy attack.
On her Facebook page, Kellie described the terrible accident that changed her life forever. She explained that Alexi has always been seriously allergic to peanuts and she, as well as husband, Michael, worked to carefully protect her from them.
But on this tragic day, 15-year-old Alexi was at a friend's house when the two decided to have a snack. Alexi accepted a Chips Ahoy cookie out of the package that her friend offered her; the foil wrapper had been folded back and, according to Kellie, her daughter had neglected to read the label because "the packaging was too similar to what we had previously deemed 'safe' to her."
"She ate one cookie of chewy Chips Ahoy thinking it was safe because of the 'red' packaging, only to find out too late that there was an added ingredient. … Reese peanut butter cups/chips," Kellie wrote.
Immediately, Alexi started to feel a tingling sensation in her mouth that signaled the something was seriously wrong. Worried, she came straight home to her parents house, but her condition worsened quickly. "She went into Anaphylactic shock, stopped breathing and went unconscious," Kellie wrote. "We administered 2 epi pens while she was conscious and waited on paramedics for what felt like an eternity."
But her efforts ended up being for naught. In less than an hour and a half, Alexi died from her food allergy.
In her post, Kellie calls out the company for not having packaging with "screaming warnings" for peanuts.
Kellie explained that she had always taught her daughter about her limitations and was shocked that the smallest incident had left her without a child.
In her post, she argued that "the company has different colored packaging to indicate chunky, chewy, or regular but NO screaming warnings about such a fatal ingredient to many people. Especially children. It’s important to us to spread awareness so that this horrible mistake doesn’t happen again."
She urged parents to be mindful of the foods that they give their kids and even had a specific request from the company that made the food that killed her girl: change your packaging.
But not everyone agrees with this grieving mom and thinks the only person to blame is her daughter.
The topic is turning into a heated debate on Facebook, with one mom arguing that a 15-year-old "should've read the ingredients if she was at a friend's house. Allergens are always very clearly listed at the bottom of the nutrition facts."
Many jaded parents are accusing Kellie of wrongly taking her grief out on the company.
But some social media users are pushing back saying the the mistake wasn't "obvious," especially for kids.
And pointing out that packaging should never be so similar for peanut butter versions.
But no matter your opinion, people should consider swapping their judgement for some compassion.
The biggest takeaway from this terrible tragedy is that mistakes happen and whether you agree with Kellie or not, it is noble that she is trying to make something good out of what has so recently caused her devastation.
