{"id":700372,"date":"2026-05-28T23:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/700372\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T23:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:46:11","slug":"ontario-boy-dies-from-anaphylaxis-after-allegedly-receiving-wrong-treat-at-dairy-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/700372\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario boy dies from anaphylaxis after allegedly receiving wrong treat at Dairy Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

An eight-year-old boy has died of a severe allergic reaction after his mother alleges he was given the wrong treat at a Dairy Queen<\/a> in Kingston.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Julia Gartland told Global News in a written statement that she took her kids to Dairy Queen on Monday night for a treat.<\/p>\n

She said she ordered her son Liam a vegan dilly bar because he is anaphylactic to dairy, eggs and peanuts.<\/p>\n

The vegan dilly bar is \u201cgluten-free, dairy-free and plant-based,\u201d according to Dairy Queen\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Gartland said when the worker handed her the treat, they told her, \u201cHere is your vegan dilly bar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think to check, I just handed it to him,\u201d Gartland said. \u201cAbout five minutes later, he\u2019s telling me he thinks it\u2019s dairy, and we look at the package and it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gartland said she drove as fast as she could to grab an EpiPen and called 911.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey got there but he was already struggling to breathe,\u201d she recalled. \u201cBy the time we got to the Kingston Centre, he flatlined.\u201d<\/p>\n

A second ambulance attended the scene and continued compressions, but Gartland said her son was in cardiac arrest for 55 minutes, causing severe brain damage.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLiam\u2019s family said goodbye after doctors confirmed there had been no brain activity for 48 hours.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGoFundMe\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told us at [Kingston General Hospital] to start saying our goodbyes, as they weren\u2019t sure he would make the flight to CHEO [Children\u2019s Hospital of Eastern Ontario],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Liam made it to CHEO, but had a hole in his lung. When he arrived, Gartland was also told her son had COVID-19, which was putting additional strain on his lungs.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Get<\/p>\n

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\u201cHis lungs were so inflamed from COVID and asthma that they just couldn\u2019t handle it,\u201d Gartland said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Canada
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After 48 hours with no brain activity, Gartland had to say goodbye.<\/p>\n

Gartland said she and Liam\u2019s father decided to donate Liam\u2019s organs to continue helping others. According to a GoFundMe page set up for the family, helping was one of Liam\u2019s favourite things to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision feels so deeply aligned with who Liam was,\u201d Gartland said on the page. \u201cHe had the kindest heart and always wanted to help others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gartland said doctors initially told her Liam\u2019s heart wasn\u2019t strong enough to donate, but in the operating room, it started to beat, and ended up being donated to a three-year-old girl.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile our hearts are shattered, there is comfort in knowing that Liam\u2019s love, kindness, and generosity will continue on through these children,\u201d Gartland said in the GoFundMe. \u201cHis legacy will live on not only in our memories, but in the lives he is helping save. We are so proud of our boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gartland said the coroner told her Liam had an anaphylactic reaction.<\/p>\n

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Dairy Queen did not directly answer any of Global News\u2019 questions seeking confirmation that the incident occurred or queries about the company\u2019s standards and procedures related to food allergies.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a Dairy Queen spokesperson said \u201cour hearts are with the family and loved ones during this difficult time,\u201d adding the company is in contact with the store operator who is co-operating with authorities as they complete their investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of respect for the family and the process, we won\u2019t have further comment at this time,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The Office of the Coroner confirmed to Global News that an investigation is underway.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An eight-year-old boy has died of a severe allergic reaction after his mother alleges he was given the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[56091,49,48,255067,44012,44],"class_list":["post-700372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-anaphylactic-shock","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-childhood-allergies","tag-dairy-queen","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}