Louise Cadman has gone public, relating the tragedy that left her 25-year-old son in a vegetative state.
George Cadman-Ithell was 5 when he was diagnosed with a tree nut allergy after reacting to chocolates at his grandparents’ house. At the time, he was also diagnosed with an allergy to crustacean shellfish.
Over his lifetime, George suffered some 15 allergic reactions but never used his epinephrine auto-injector, instead managing his symptoms with antihistamines.
He had texted his mom a photo of a cured sausage snack he was enjoying, saying, “These are nice.”
Three minutes later, he sent his mom a message that read: “F***, they contain walnuts.”
His mom asked, “You’ve not eaten any have you?” to which her son replied: “Yes.”
He had not seen the labeling on the snack that read, “With Walnuts,” and he did not have his epinephrine on hand.
During the frantic conversation, his mom begged him to call emergency services, but he soon stopped replying.
After the conversation abruptly ended, Ms Cadman rushed to her son’s apartment, where she found paramedics administering CPR to him. He had run home from the shop in eight minutes, after which his father administered epinephrine via auto-injector.
But by that time, it was too late, and George subsequently suffered cardiac arrest, leaving his brain starved of oxygen for 26 minutes, causing severe brain damage.
He remains in a vegetative state at Northwick Park Hospital in North West London.
Ms Cadman is now speaking out about the tragedy to raise awareness, saying: “It’s just destroyed us. I can’t bear the thought of this happening to another family.”
She added:
He did his best to avoid nuts and if he was out in restaurants, he would always declare it.
But, equally, I think he thought, ‘Oh well if they give me something by mistake I’m just gonna be a bit sick’, and it was never more than that.
She said that previously when suffering a reaction, “he’d vomit for an hour or so, his lips would swell and his throat would itch” — however, he had never had to administer epinephrine.
She went on to explain:
They had no food in the house because they were packing up, so George ran to the shops.
He was busy. His mind was elsewhere. We always used to call him the absent-minded professor because he’s brilliantly clever, but common sense? Not always. I can imagine him just picking up the snack and saying, ‘Oh, I’ve had these before’ and not looking at the label.
George has been given three years to live by his doctors, who have informed his family he is unlikely to recover despite being able to open his eyes and breathe on his own.
We send our heartfelt sympathies to the Cadman-Ithell family and maintain hope for a miraculous recovery for George.
As we do when reporting such tragedies, we look for strategies that will help the allergic community avoid similar catastrophes in their families.
Understand that many doctors today advocate not using antihistamines during an allergic reaction because they can mask the symptoms of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening reaction to a food, drug, insect venom, or environmental allergen such as latex. Discuss your personal situation with your allergist.
If you have been prescribed epinephrine, be sure to take two emergency devices — auto-injectors or nasal sprays — along everywhere, every time, and administer the first when you first suspect anaphylaxis. Epinephrine is the only drug that can halt and reverse the progression of anaphylaxis, but it must be administered quickly after the onset of symptoms to provide the best outcome.
Always check the label of packaged goods before consuming them, even if you have eaten the same product for years. Manufacturers change their ingredients and processing all the time, and you want to do everything possible to avoid ingesting your allergen.
Last but not least, keep in mind that one allergic reaction does not predict the severity of the next, which could prove significantly worse, even fatal.
