ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Every year roughly 225 people die from food allergies. The national Allergy Asthma network says nearly half of them are children.<\/p>\n
One Allentown family knows the heartbreak behind those statistics too well.<\/p>\n
Looking at pictures of their son, 3-year-old Elijah brings a flood of memories for Dina Hawthorne and Thomas Silvera.<\/p>\n
It also brings back tears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It hurts,” said Silvera. “But the love is still there.”<\/p>\n
In 2017, Elijah died from anaphylaxis after he was given food that he was allergic to at a New York Day care.<\/p>\n
“They had they had his epinephrine auto injector. They had his nebulizer,” said Hawthorne. “They had everything that they needed, and they did nothing.”<\/p>\n
“They assured us that they can, you know, take care of a child who has food allergies,” said Silvera.<\/p>\n
The couple says at the time, laws were unclear about what educators should do in the case of anaphylaxis.<\/p>\n
So, they created the Elijah Alavi Foundation to try to spare other families the pain of losing a child.<\/p>\n
“We sat down with our legislators and we got to work. And fast forward now, you know we’re here,” said Hawthorne.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania recently became the 8th state to pass Elijah’s Law, mandating schools and daycares be trained on spotting anaphylaxis and how to administer epinephrine.<\/p>\n
Elijah’s parents hope one day it will be a national mandate.<\/p>\n
“Food allergies is not just hives or rash. Like children can actually die,” said Hawthorne.<\/p>\n
Hawthorne has also written a book about food allergies called “Elijah Builds a Park.” The hope being that greater understanding of food allergies will save lives.<\/p>\n
“We don’t want another parent to receive a phone call like we did,” said Silvera.<\/p>\n
Hawthorne and Silvera say they foundation is currently lobbying in New Jersey, Colorado and Florida for Elijah’s Law to be adopted.<\/p>\n
The foundation also spends a good amount of time training daycare and educational facilities on what they need to know to protect children.<\/p>\n