A family met a very painful tragedy his Thanksgiving week. Couple Bill and Nancy Swink just lost a son who suffered from a severe peanut allergy.
Chandler Swink was a vibrant 19 years old who's studying to become a nurse in Oakland University. Although he appears healthy and normal, he suffers from a level 6 peanut allergy reaction, which means he's not allowed to interact with any type of peanut and its by-product in any way.
However, he did when he visited a friend's home. It's believed that the friend's mom prepared cookies with some peanut butter in it or that someone who had come into contact with the spread touched Chandler and transferred it.
Either way, it didn't take long for the young man to experience a severe reaction. Just like allergy sufferers who tend to develop very serious reactions, he always carried an EpiPen, which allowed him to drive himself to the hospital. However, he never made it conscious to the emergency room as he fell unconscious on the driver's seat, where he was found.
He was in a coma since November 18. On Wednesday, November 26, his family decided to take his life support. His cause of death is believed to be anaphylactic shock that led to cardiac arrest. He had a survival rate of only 2%.
His mother related how his son's allergy affected his life not only physically but also socially. When his school in Avondale decided to go peanut butter free for his safety, students and even some parents rained criticisms on the school and Chandler, commenting that peanut allergy didn't seem to be that serious.
She further added that his son never brought up the bullying to his parents for more than 10 years but was relieved when he finally said goodbye to the school and go to a university who didn't have to know about his illness. His father, meanwhile, urged other families, especially parents, to treat food allergy very seriously.
