The embarrassment of food allergies
Recently, Anthony Maruca, a 23-year-old, died from an allergic reaction to his severe food allergies. It’s a tragic story of a wonderful young person dying much, much, much too soon.
Anthony’s grieving family are speaking out to stress the importance of a person with an allergy talking about their allergy, instead of keeping quiet due to shame or shyness.
From the Allergic Living article: “Despite having lived with food allergies since his first diagnosis at six months of age, Janet Maruca says that her son was embarrassed to talk about them. ‘He didn’t tell a lot of people because he didn’t want to be singled out. He wanted to be what he called, ‘normal,’’ she said.”
Talk to your kids– tell them they have to talk about their health condition with restaurants and anyone else preparing food for them. If you’ve got kids without allergies, tell them to respect their friends and classmates who do. And if you’re a chef, take these allergies seriously. They’re life and death. Let’s all work together to keep our allergic friends and family safe. It shouldn’t be on them alone.