One Florida mom is warning others after her son suffered an attack and almost died after she let him eat a mall treat.
Most mothers of children without allergies don’t think twice to give their child a treat they see others eating.
It’s being sold at the mall, other kids are eating it, it should be safe right? Well, Racheal Richard McKenny of Saint Augustine, Florida happened to be wrong in that situation.
It all started with a trip to The Avenues mall in Jacksonville.
Rachael was shopping with her two children when they stopped by a mesmerizing mall kiosk.
They were selling a dessert called “Dragon Breath.”
“It’s a liquid nitrogen infused cereal that, when eaten, allows you to blow smoke like a dragon. Sounds pretty neat, right? There’s also a video that highlights people eating it. The video plays on a TV next to the kiosk and captures the attention of everyone that passes by. Johnny saw it and wanted to try it yesterday. Unfortunately, I let him,” Rachael recalls.
Her son Johnny, like many others reported in the news, had a bad reaction to it. Johnny’s reaction was an asthmatic one.
Johnny had a history of asthma and a prescription for an inhaler.
However, he rarely had to use it and Racheal didn’t bring it to the mall. She would keep it in the family’s outing bag in case he needed it while the family was engaged in physically strenuous activities that could affect his breathing.
Johnny was fine immediately after but started to show symptoms while riding in the car.
“About 10-minutes into the ride home, Johnny started an occasional cough. Around 20 minutes in, the cough became really consistent. By the time we passed the Palencia sub division, he was coughing so bad that he was having trouble catching his breath. We knew he couldn’t breathe, and we knew that we couldn’t get him to the hospital in time,” she recalled.
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They had the good sense to stop at a fire station where EMTs were able to give Johnny an albuterol treatment and hooked him up to an IV.
“Please, if you do not know where the EMTs are located in your town, then look it up,” Racheal begs.
She’s also begging parents of children with asthma to stay away from Dragon Breath.
“Please don’t make the same mistake I did. Even if I had Johnny’s albuterol, I’m not sure it would have been enough since he didn’t start improving until he had the epinephrine shot. But, it might have stopped or slowed the attack long enough to get to the hospital in time,” she explains.
Thankfully Johnny is OK now. But he’s not the only person who was harmed after eating Dragon Breath.
TODAY reports that a 14-year-old had to have her finger cut open after she was burned by the liquid nitrogen in the dessert which could be as cold as negative 320 degrees.
Doctors said that she could have lost her finger if she didn’t get treatment. Vendors that sell Dragon Breath have a list of safety rules on how to eat them posted on their booths.
Some vendors also recite the instructions and ask customers to repeat it.
“First is rapid significant damage to the skin and body if swallowed,” Dr. Reed Caldwell, assistant professor at Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine at NYU Langone Health, told TODAY Food. “Liquid nitrogen is what’s used by dermatologists to burn things off skin so we know it can be destructive to tissue. I would urge caution for anybody around liquid nitrogen, particularly children.”
While some err on the side of caution when eating the frozen dessert, others are avoiding it all together.
It’s actually been banned in Suffolk County, Long Island.
You can see Rachael’s original post below.
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https://www.facebook.com/racheal.richardmckenny/posts/10214241285280955?__xts__[0]=68.ARCTC7H8Rbp2_2usIaJiS3fyYGcfOXrI96HZJ5UdgknhKRhXvvLnDw9B5FX_hGjIepG6jiRETr5gPtxaDfcLB1boTenS1GMb6U-oLdVLTFkRvWsUYrqWpxgxC8rtjRYxQvwmerbTg66D&__tn__=-R
