Mom From Essex County Blasts Airline Over Nut Allergy Response

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — It only takes a little bit of cooperation to prevent a child from losing his or her life to an allergic reaction — but stories have abounded recently of children dying over an errant snack given at a school function, or at a friend's house.

Some airlines have gotten on board with precautions to prevent such a tragedy in midair — but not everyone's aware, one Essex County mom said this week.

According to stories this week on Good Morning America and in the New York Post, the Essex County mom, who followed airline policy by telling crew and passengers about her son's severe nut allergy, only got flak in response from one crew member.

Lianne Mandelbaum of Livingston told Good Morning America that she traveled on United Air with her son last month to check out a college in Texas. "I went up to speak to the flight attendant, and I said, 'My son has a life-threatening peanut allergy. I would appreciate it if you could just tell the surrounding rows to be careful.' "

But she feared being kicked off the flight when a staff member responded, according to her, " 'I don't care what you're going to say or what you're going to show me. I'm telling you, this is not going to happen on this plane."

United's policy states, "If you have a severe food allergy and are traveling on a flight please notify a flight attendant on board the aircraft that you request an allergy buffer zone so we can attempt to notify customers seated nearby to refrain from eating any allergen-containing products they may have brought on board."

When a child (or adult) has an anaphylactic reaction to a food or other substance to which they're allergic, their entire body fights back. They can stop breathing and die in a matter of minutes.

In some cases, even administering life-saving epinephrine won't help.

In 2013, a 13-year-old girl died at a camp function after she accidentally tasted (and spat out) a food made with peanut butter. Her dad, a physician, administered three doses of epinephrine but couldn't save her. Her last words, according to media reports, was that she was sorry.

Inconvenienced?

Children with allegies, and their families, often spend a lifetime taking strong precautions about what they eat, only to end in tragedy in minutes.

Yet, according to Mandelbaum, who runs a group called No Nut Traveler, people often complain that they are inconvenienced when simply told to avoid opening nut products during a flight or school function.

Mandelbaum wrote on Twitter on Friday:

The suffering and concerns of parents of someone with a nut allergy linger for a lifetime. The parents of a teen girl who died at a school dance this past winter wrote these words in February on a GoFundMe set up by a friend:

"It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beautiful and loving daughter, Aly, as she went home to be with our heavenly Father ... We are lost without her.

"If anything becomes of Aly’s tragic nut allergic reaction, the one thing she would want is for everyone to come together, regardless of their differences, and treat each other with grace and kindness. Her short time on this planet touched so many."

Find out more about No Nut Traveler here.