Carol Beal is always a little nervous about her fourth-grader at school. Aside from the common concerns of playground bumps and bruises, Beal worries that one of the most popular childhood foods could spell disaster for her family.
Grant, 10, was only just over 1 year old the first time an allergic reaction to peanuts sent him dangerously close to hospitalization. His sister was eating a peanut butter sandwich and he reached up and grabbed it.
Instantly he started to cry, and at first Beal thought he had been stung by a bee. Within minutes he was covered in hives, with his eyes swelling shut. Luckily Beal had liquid Benadryl in the house and it calmed his symptoms.
She later found out that Grant is extremely allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. It doesn't take much — just touching a peanut product could send him into a severe reaction.
Peanut allergies are on the rise and Parley's Park Elementary School in Park City has jumped in to help keep Grant and two other students with the same condition safe by banning all peanut products from the school and lunch system. But schools in some other districts are reluctant to make any big accommodations.
Holly Stubbs' son, Smith, 9, attends Oak Hills Elementary in Davis District and can have a reaction by just being in a small room with a bowl of peanuts or tree nuts. Stubbs has been trying to get Davis to take action like Park City's for years. And though her son's teachers and lunch workers have been vigilant during lunchtime, the district refuses to take peanut items completely off the menu.
They have pulled a weekly peanut butter and celery entree off the menu, but they continue to serve items such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and peanut butter finger treats.
Like Grant, Smith is monitored closely at lunch and his class always eats first. But Stubbs constantly worries that a careless student or teacher will neglect washing their hands or offer Smith a peanut item that could send him into anaphylactic shock.
Anaphylaxis is a whole-body reaction — hives, vomiting, diarrhea, tightening of the lungs, swelling of the throat and dropping blood pressure. It can result in coma and death.
It's not like lactose intolerance or other allergies where the victim gets a stomachache or a rash, said Flynn. A child can die.
Dr. Alan Bitner, a Salt Lake allergist, said a peanut allergy is one of the most serious food allergies. In the United States an estimated 100 people die each year from a peanut allergy.
Around one in every 200 children will develop an anaphylactic reaction to food, with around one in five suffering a severe reaction or worse.
Peanuts are a very potent allergen, said Bitner. Ingesting a peanut product, touching it, kissing someone who has just eaten it or even the odor can cause a reaction.
He said 85 percent of children with the condition won't outgrow it.
Those with a severe allergy, like Smith and Grant, carry an Epipen, an epinephrine shot that buys some time until they receive medical attention.
It's no surprise, Beal said, that in her son's early years she would suffer from anxiety before school started.
"It is hard to let go and let someone else protect him from something that is so dangerous — and it's everywhere," said Beal. "It really is a weird feeling. I remember thinking, I have the right car seat, have all the locks on the cabinets so he can't get into anything dangerous . . . but it is going to be a food that could be the one thing that can't protect him from."
Beal said the fact that the school has been so cooperative has bought her some peace of mind. But Stubbs said she continues to fight a losing battle in Davis.
Pam Tsakalos, Davis nutrition director, said the district feels it has taken the measures that need to be taken. She said Smith's teachers and food workers are aware of his condition and what to do should he have a reaction, and children use hand sanitizer at the school.
"I don't know how you can say 'you can't bring this to school' — peanut butter and jelly is a mainstay," said Tsakalos. "What we've tried to do is teach the children, with all allergies, not just peanuts, that they have to learn to live in the real world — the key is education — they need to understand and learn that they have to take care of themselves."
But Marilyn Clayton, director of nutrition for Jordan School District, said serving peanut products around children with an allergy is too big a risk. Between 200 and 300 elementary students in Jordan have a peanut allergy. And like Parley's Park, most of the elementary schools have peanut-free menus.
"When we find out that even one child has a reaction, we take it out of the school," said Clayton.
She said from the food service standpoint it is no big deal — just a matter of cutting out peanut butter foods, watching ingredients and not serving items like granola bars, certain commercial candies and cookies.
But few schools have attempted to completely ban peanuts like Parley's Park.
"It's a hard road to figure out, because unlike so many other special medical needs like diabetes where they can set up programs, I have to totally ask to inconvenience people — and I know that," said Beal.
But Parley's Park principal Patrick Flynn said for the most part parents at the school have been very cooperative. Additionally, all staff members at Parley's, from teachers to janitors, are trained in what to do if a child suffers a reaction.
As an added safety precaution, they even have a peanut-free table set aside in the lunchroom where students with the allergy are monitored.
"Sometimes parents forget and send peanut butter sandwiches or peanut butter cookies," said Flynn. "Kids make us aware that they have it and we just make sure that they wash their hands after eating."
The efforts have worked so far.
Beal said her son has only had about four incidents in his life where he had a reaction to peanuts and they have all been through skin contact. He has only visited the hospital once as a result. The Epipen, liquid Benadryl and a good scrub-down have usually done the trick.
However, with peanut allergies, the more times a person is exposed to the allergen the more violent the reaction. So Beal said it is important to minimize every type of exposure.
Flynn admitted sometimes he has a few parents that don't like one family dictating to the rest of the school but said it still comes down to what's best for students.
"If it was their child that could die from someone being careless with a peanut product, it's not worth it for me to have that happen," said Flynn. "I'll take whatever heat I have to to protect our kids."
E-mail: terickson@desnews.com