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Girl's death highlights hidden danger
Parents of kids with food allergies find it hard to avoid ingredients that can kill
SYLVIA WOOD
Staff writerCatherine Tretheway has never met the family of the Niskayuna teenager who died over the weekend after an allergic reaction to peanuts.
But with a 3-year-old who is also severely allergic to peanuts, Tretheway couldn't help thinking of her own daughter, Colleen, when she heard the news about Mariya Spektor.
Spektor died Saturday after eating a party snack made with peanut oil.
"It is a daily fear,'' said Tretheway, who prepares all her daughter's meals and carefully screens everything she eats away from home. "Anywhere we go outside is fraught with danger.''
Of the estimated 5 million people with food allergies in the United States, about 125 die each year from severe reactions, mostly from peanuts and nuts, according to the Food Allergy Network, a nonprofit organization in Fairfax, Va.
But avoiding the foods that can cause problems isn't easy, especially with hidden sources of peanut products in candy, ice cream, processed snacks and other foods.
"It's extremely difficult,'' said Dr. Jocelyn Celestin, director of the Allergy and Asthma Center of Albany Medical Center, which runs a support group for parents of children with food allergies.
"Parents have to be extremely vigilant. You have to do detective work to know what you're eating.''
On Halloween, when Tretheway and her daughter went trick-or-treating, she went so far as to plant safe, peanut-free candy at different homes in their Valatie neighborhood. But Tretheway knows her daughter will soon reach an age when she won't always be able to watch and warn her at every turn.
"Teenagers think they're invincible,'' she said.
Spektor, a Niskayuna High School senior, reportedly had been aware of her allergy to peanuts and careful about avoiding them. Her mother, Inna Vilenskaya Spektor, reached at the family's Baker Avenue home on Monday, did not want to comment.
Niskayuna police gave the following account of the events leading to Spektor's death.
She was at a friend's home celebrating a birthday with several classmates when she ate some Chex party mix.
A short time later, when she and two friends went to the Hannaford supermarket at Consaul Road to pick out some videos, Spektor said she was going to the bathroom because she didn't feel well.
About 15 minutes later, her friends found her unconscious and not breathing -- symptoms of anaphylactic shock, a severe allergic reaction that closes off the trachea and blocks air flow. Spektor was taken by ambulance to St. Clare's Hospital in Schenectady, where she was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m.
On Monday, reaction to Spektor's death rippled beyond her immediate family and closest friends. "People spoke of her as a very friendly, positive person looking forward to life,'' said Dr. Briggs McAndrews, superintendent of Niskayuna schools, where Spektor had been a student since the seventh grade.
She and her family emigrated from Ukraine to the United States about seven years ago. Since then, McAndrews said Spektor was known for being a dedicated student with a special aptitude for French. She sang in the school chorus and volunteered at a local nursing home.
While special counselors were available for grieving classmates at Niskayuna High School on Monday, Linda Ramundo, a school nurse for South Colonie schools, was reassuring at least one parent concerned about her child's nut allergy.
"This has got to be very unnerving for them,'' she said. At Veeder Elementary School, Ramundo keeps tabs on six students with peanut and nut allergies, focusing on keeping unsafe foods out of their classrooms and making sure they eat in "nut-free'' areas.
How far schools and communities should go to protect people with food allergies is open to debate.
A Grand Island couple in Erie County is pushing to have peanut butter banned from the school their son will attend. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation failed to win a battle to require the nation's 10 largest airlines to provide peanut-free zones on certain aircraft.
With no cure for food allergies, Celestin believes the best strategy is to educate parents and their children with food allergies. Even small amounts can cause life-threatening reactions, and while not every allergy is fatal, Celestin said strict avoidance is the safest approach.
As a precaution against exposure, he also tells patients to carry a shot of epinephrine, which can provide some relief until medics arrive.
Tretheway carries two EpiPens for her daughter, just in case. Niskayuna police said they found an inhaler in Spektor's purse, but were uncertain if she tried to use it or if it could have made a difference.
"I feel very bad for this girl and her family,'' Tretheway said. "You shouldn't have to die from eating something like that.''
First published on Tuesday, November 17, 1998
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