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Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, has taken on a new patronage. (Her other patronages include a children’s cancer foundation, a children in crisis charity and other charities with a focus on children and healthcare.) She is working with the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, which is supporting a new law in the UK to label all ingredients on packaged food. This law is in honor of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, a 15-year-old girl who died from an allergic reaction after eating a packaged sandwich at Heathrow Airport that contained sesame seeds. It turns out that Fergie’s uncle passed away at just ten years old after he unknowingly ate a sandwich with crab in it. She explained that he died before she was before she was born and that she can’t imagine what her poor grandmother must have gone through.
Fergie, as the Duchess of York is affectionately known, recently became a patron of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, a charitable organization that campaigns for allergy research and safety, named in memory of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse.
Ednan-Laperouse was just 15-years-old when she died from an allergic reaction after unknowingly eating a sandwich with sesame seeds at a Pret a Manger in Heathrow Airport in 2016, according to ITV.
Her parents, Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, have since established the charity in their daughter’s name and have been working to instill “Natasha’s Law,” a bill that requires all food businesses in England and Northern Ireland to list every ingredient in their pre-packaged foods. It is expected to go into law by summer 2021.
While opening up to ITV about her decision to partner with the charity and support the legislation, Fergie, 59, revealed that she had a particularly close connection to the cause — her late uncle had also died from an allergic reaction to a sandwich.
“My uncle, age 10, died of a crab sandwich at Brancaster Beach and my father was never the same after that,” she explained to the local outlet. “And my grandmother never forgot John — he was called John.”
Because her uncle’s death occurred many years before she was born, Fergie said she did not think much of the tragedy and how much her grandmother emotionally endured until she started spending time with Natasha’s parents.
“It wasn’t until working with Nadim and Tanya and being with them that I suddenly realized, ‘Can you imagine what my grandmother went through?’” she shared with the outlet. “In those days, forget it.”
My son gets hives sometimes and I’m terrified of something like this happening to him or to me now. I’ve mentioned that I developed an allergy to mammal meat after getting bit by a tick about three weeks ago. After having a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch I got itchy all over and had hives. About six hours later it felt like my throat was closing, I couldn’t breathe and had this awful sense of doom. (Alpha gal is one of the only known allergies with a delayed onset.) I knew what was happening as I had just covered a story with Ariana Grande describing how it felt to have an allergic reaction. Plus I’d heard of this meat allergy from tick bites. I didn’t go to the emergency room as it would have cost me around $1,000. So I went to the pharmacist and asked if there was anything I could take other than using my epipen, which I have for my son’s allergies. She told me to go to the ER but that I could take Zantac and more Benadryl. I did that and it worked. (I wrote her a note after thanking her.)
Anyway now I’m so scared of eating out! I will get packaged food from the store but only if the ingredients are listed. We already have a law like this in the US, passed in 2004, called the Food Allergen Labeling Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA). It specifies that eight major allergens be listed in packaging, which unfortunately don’t include meat, but are milk, egg, fish, crustacean shell fish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts and soybeans. The good news is that this law has been passed in the UK and will go into effect in 2021. Good for Fergie for supporting it. It sounds like a nonpartisan issue that will only help people.
Photos credit: Getty
Interesting that Fergie is popping up everywhere lately. Really makes me wonder about her rejoining the royal family.
Philip is getting on and retired from Public life. At this point I think it is safe to say she is back. She has accompanied Andrew to Ascot for two years straight. I am guessing that they are already back together but waiting for Philip to pop his clogs before formally reconciling.
Some argue they were never apart. They are both philanderers and have now likely realised they’re too old for the same rinse repeat nonsense in their 60’s….
I agree, Mingionette, and you’ve put it so nicely!. She’s well in.
Pop his clogs….LOL
@ L84Tea – kick the bucket, fall of his perch are other phrases we use!
One of the scariest days of my life was when I found out I was allergic to kiwi fruit. I had never had it before, I was in second grade and I just remember my throat literally closing, not being able to breathe, they called an ambulance and I was rushed to the emergency room but it was the scariest thing ever. It happened to me again when I worked in a coffee shop and had a smoothie that had kiwi in it and I didnt know it but luckily this time I had my epi pen.
Allergies are very, very, very serious and life threatening. It seems like a no brainer that ALL ingredients very listed on packaged food.
About to turn 40, and in the last couple years, I’ve developed a mint allergy. No itches or hives, no throat closing, but it makes me sneeze like nothing. Which sucks cause I love mint. Andes mints, mint chocolate chip ice cream, junior mints, etc. It’s scary to think of developing allergies as an adult.
Really strong mints make me sneeze too. I’m not allergic though, it’s more like how you’ll feel horseradish in your nose, I feel the mint in my nose and it makes me sneeze. Andes mints don’t do it for me though, it’s mostly just cough drops and breath mints. I hope mine doesn’t get worse! No one ever knows what I’m talking about when I mention mint making me sneeze.
Mint here as well, along with fresh oregano and basil, which are all closely related. Once had a salad full of what I thought was parsley, but was actually fresh basil leaves. Ended up in the ER for several hours with a swollen tongue and throat, very scary.
The smell of fresh mint actually makes me nauseous and gives me a migraine.
It’s usually the things you love eating that you will often develops allergies to.
The fact that going to the ER would have cost you 1000$ is absolutely terrifying to me!
Yes. Living in Canada, I kinda went “What?” but then I remembered this is in the US.
In Canada too. Wait times in ERs drive me nuts but at least we don’t have to put our health (or lives) at risk because of the cost!
Same here in the UK. Utter lunacy. Of course, either of our new PM candidates will very likely do everything in their power to sell off the NHS so… we may be here in future too.
I think it’s all relative. Our cousins recently came here to the US because their child has a hole in his heart, and they want better, faster care than they received in the UK. My college friend , on the other hand, lived in Canada for about 6 years and complained about the specialist waiting lists for what we consider urgent here in the US. I guess there’s a tradeoff for everything, no?
And I hate that. I hate that people have to think of how much something costs before seeking medical treatment that could save your life.
(they would have treated CB without her paying, but she would have gotten a big bill.)
Ditto. I hate the ER because of the wait times but I can’t imagine being faced with that kind of dilemma where I couldn’t go because of cost.
Actually the last time I went to the ER it cost $900 so maybe I’m rounding up. I included that for you Canadian and UK peeps. So jealous.
French here! and currently kissing my social security card.
And this is why we are terrified of Brexit. Trump is circling a weakened post Brexit UK like a vulture and Bozo Johnson will dismantle and sell off the NHS for spare parts…
The US “health care” system is such a terrible mess. It’s shameful.
I developed a deadly allergy to shellfish 4 years ago, and I’m terrified in restaurants now. I refuse to eat anything fried, but even the smell of shellfish makes my eyes swell and run and causes breathing difficulties. And it can be extremely difficult to get people to understand how dangerous food allergies really are.
SusieQ- yes, it can be very difficult for folks to understand the dangers of food allergies. Years ago, I had a boyfriend who worked in a pizza parlor. This woman ordered white sauce on her pizza, and told my boyfriend (who took the order) that she was allergic to tomatoes. So my boyfriend’s coworker starts making the pizza, and accidentally puts red tomato sauce on. My boyfriend sees it, tells him to remake it with shots sauce. The coworker just scraped off the tomato sauce and started to put white sauce! My boyfriend threw a fit at the coworker and said to completely remake it. The coworker wouldn’t do it. He didn’t see the necessity. My boyfriend had to get his manager to make the coworker do it. So the customer wouldn’t get sick.
@Rapunzel – good for him!
I do think part of the issue, now, is that there are so many people who are on this diet or that diet and so avoid foods that are allergens, but they aren’t allergic. So people underestimate how dangerous food allergies can be. “so and so doesn’t eat soy either but I just wiped the soy sauce off the fork so its fine.” or something.
Not the same as a life threatening allergy, but my husband’s cousin has celiac and has been diagnosed for almost 17 years now, maybe 18 years? and over the course of that time its become a LOT easier for her, because gluten free has become so popular. But people don’t understand that she cant.have.gluten. So if she orders a salad, and says no croutons, and it comes out with croutons, she cant just take the croutons off the salad. If she orders rice noodles instead of wheat noodles, you cant use the same colander. Stuff like that. and people don’t get it because other people they know who are gluten free will just pick the croutons off, etc.
I imagine its even worse for allergies.
Yup, my sister has Celiac’s. Over time as you eliminate gluten from your diet, the reactions to eating gluten accidentally become stronger and stronger. My sister now has intense vomiting fits that last for hours if she accidentally ingests gluten. And yeah it’s the same thing in restaurants. My sister always asks about sauces because even soy sauce can sometimes have gluten in it. She explains Celiac’s as an allergy which it technically isn’t I guess because she won’t get anaphylactic shock (?). But it’s just easier for people to understand she can’t eat a salad with croutons on it and just removing the croutons doesn’t remove cross-contamination. She insists they remake the salad but we aren’t stupid, we can tell when the salad hasn’t been remade and the croutons were just taken off.
The last unfortunate gluten accident she had was at her old job where they had a pizza party welcoming new employees. They told her the pizza was gluten-free so she had two slices. But her stomach told her otherwise and she spent the majority of the time in the bathroom puking her guts out. She tried to make it home on the subway back to Brooklyn as it seemed the vomiting had stopped but had to get off at Penn Station to vomit in a bag she’d brought with her. Mind you this is during rush hour so people are just walking around her ignoring her trying to get on/off the subway! That image always makes me feel so sorry for her.
Good for Fergie. This is an important issue. Food allergies are terrifying.
I have 2 kids with peanut and dairy allergies, so I get to buy 2 sets up epi pens every school year for full price, but that’s a different story. My middle son attended a preschool in a synagogue, and I would check all food items by reading the ingredients and the allergen warnings and sign off on them. I learned about label requirements being different in other countries when his teacher brought in snacks from Israel and had me read the ingredients, which never listed peanuts. The teacher looked at the picture on the front of the packaging, which looked like it had peanuts as a topping, so she checked by opening the package and there were peanuts. She averted a potential tragedy and I learned to look at pictures because not every ingredient is always listed in the ingredients.
Have their pediatrician write the prescription for “epinephrine auto-injector pen” instead of using the brand name Epi-pen. I got two generic Mylan pens for $10 on my BlueCross BlueShield insurance. The Epi-pens would have cost me $300!
Getting generic can help but often, if a person has a deductible they haven’t met, prescriptions fall under that umbrella and until they meet that couple thousand dollars bar, they’re paying full price even for generic (which are still $300).
That’s exactly it we have to meet our deductible before it’s covered at all and we’re a healthy family. we’ve only met our deductible once, that was when I had my youngest 3 years ago so all the OB and L&D visits brought me to that total. That year, you better believe I got 3 packages of 2 epi pens for each kid because it was 100% covered, which would have cost $1800. I do get the generic, but my kids epi pens expired in the middle of the school year this year, so school policy was I had to get ones that didn’t. There of course was a shortage, beggars can’t be choosers, so I had to get the name brand, right there was $600. That right there is another issue, there’s always a pen shortage so sometimes you don’t have access to the generics. It’s insane.
I, too, switched to the generic auto injectors. It’s highway robbery.
So well done to Natasha’s parents for their tireless campaigning and for getting Natasha’s Law passed. Not sure having Fergie as a patron will help much though as she’s so self-serving…
I developed a life-threatening allergy to cranberries as an adult and now carry antihistamines and Epi-pens with me at all times. It sucks because legally food and drink companies in the US can use language like “natural fruit flavour” on a label if the ingredient constitutes less than 2% of the total ingredients. I learned Chic-fil-a barbecue sauce uses cranberries for colouring by going into anaphylaxis. Now when in doubt, I avoid anything that seems suspicious.
May I just recommend-if you think you’re having a life threatening allergic reaction and have an epipen in your possession, USE IT. Waiting can mean death. And ANY allergy can present with a delayed reaction-hours later is not unusual, regardless of the food you’re allergic to.
I appreciate this. I mean I told this story so someone would tell me that I was arrogant and stupid about it. I know I was!
You’re not stupid or arrogant. Money matters and it’s sickening to think far too many have to consider money before their own life. Food allergies are so tricky, though. What’s happening inside your body may not match what’s happening outside. Blood pressure dropping is generally what causes the “sense of impending doom.” If it drops too low, your organs can be impacted. And by then, it’s usually getting close to too late.
Also, when the Benedryl or Epi-pen wears off the allergy can still be there and you’ll react all over again, sometimes worse.
There was a local news story about a kid having a reaction to something, used an epi-pen, went to the emergency and eventually was fine. Went home, all medications wore off and had another attack, only worse, and died. Obviously this was a very severe allergy but you never know when it can get to that point.
I’m allergic to a few fruits: banana, cherries, mango, grapefruit. My reaction isn’t life threatening but it’s very uncomfortable. My throat and nose itch and I must take an allergy pill immediately. We were at a restaurant in the cherry capital of the US and after one bite of my French toast, I had to stop eating. It didn’t have cherries in it but apparently the grill they used had enough residue to give me a reaction.
I also no longer eat dairy. Last year I had a persistent cough for five straight months from the moment I woke up until I fell asleep. It was awful. Three doctors said it’s allergies but they thought it was environmental. One said stop eating dairy and voila problem solved.
I’ve always had a soft spot for Fergie. Andrew is a jackass but if they love each other, so be it.
sounds like oral allergy syndrome. i have the same problem with avocados, bananas, and plain almonds.
Olive, I have never heard of this before but you’re right! I read a description and that fits me perfectly. I have had pollen allergies since I was a child. Very interesting. Thanks so much. That explains so much.
I’m sorry that happened to you. I’m assuming you were In Traverse City, MI? I’m in Glen Arbor and we can’t escape cherries in everything either.
Small quibble: She’s no longer THE Duchess of York. She lost the THE in the divorce. (As well as the HRH.) She’s just Sarah, Duchess of York now.
I work in the deli department of our local grocery store and we have these huge posters letting everyone know that a number of our products contain eggs, wheat, etc… We have them everywhere, you can’t miss them.
Becks1 mentioned her husband’s cousin has celiac. My niece was constantly sick for so long and it was constant visits to the doctor and ER with no results. It wasn’t until my former sister in law talked to a co-worker who casually mentioned maybe it was an allergy that a light went off in my ex sil head. She made an appointment with an allergy specialist and after testing sure enough it was celiac which to that point really hadn’t been heard of and this was over 17-18 years ago. Gluten free really wasn’t a “thing” then so finding stuff for her was almost impossible and expensive as all get out. She also can’t have anything that has red food coloring.
Food allergies are no joke
I have celiac, diagnosed as an adult after many years of being misdiagnosed with IBS and other disorders. I’ve known for 15½ years now, and am still thankful every day that my surgeon figured it out. Long story short, I was having surgery and the surgeon saw something that led her to strongly suggest I be tested. She wrote the initial order, and several weeks later, we knew.
Celiac isn’t an allergy, though. It is an intolerance. Our bodies literally have no way of digesting gluten, and it acts like a poison, damaging organs in the process.
About 1:100 people have the gene for celiac. It is more common in caucasians from Northern Europe, but possible in any population. The gene can lay dormant for years, and can be “switched on” by bodily trauma, illness, or nothing at all.
If you suspect it, don’t stop eating gluten right away, as the initial tests require you to have it in your diet when you’re tested.
I can’t help wondering what’s in it for her. She seems to be trying to make herself more ‘respectable’. Does Andrew have THAT much pull with his mother that she’s going to welcome Fergie back into the fold? It seems that Andrew is taking advantage of an old lady who’s facing the loss of her husband and might be feeling a bit vulnerable.
The Queen always like Fergie, known her from a child, help her out numerous times with her financial difficulties.
Fergie has been going to Sandringham or where ever the royals go the at Christmas for years, only when Philip turns up, she has to leave.
Seeing him next to her in Eugenie’s wedding pictures, was telling, being in the same room was a major step for him.
My husband developed celiac disease when he was 37. It developed after a particularly bad bout of an intestinal virus. At first we had no idea what was going on with him. He had every test – they thought it might be IBS, Crohns, lactose intolerance and finally colon cancer. 3 months into it his doctor suggested he get tested for celiac. He thought this was nuts as he had eaten bread all his life with no problem but lo and behold it came back positive.
It’s not anaphylactic but it sure does mess up his life (and ours) for a good 6 weeks when he gets glutened. And people don’t understand. Last year we went for dinner at my dad’s cousin’s house. We brought rice pasta and his own pasta sauce. My cousin had put her meatballs (which had crackers in them) in her pasta sauce and thought it would still be ok for him to just eat the sauce. Nope. He still ended up getting sick bc we used their cookware to cook his pasta. Sigh. Guess it had been contaminated and not cleaned super well.
He is very very very careful about what and where he eats. Obviously this affects our social life but we just bring food for him now every where we go.
Also re the ER bill – I live in Canada. I have a 16 week old son. I am on a few mom groups and I was always thankful to live here when the moms in the US would discuss how much their hospital bill for having their child would be. All we paid for was part of the semi private room. I can’t imagine having to factor in the hospital bill into our decision whether or not to have a child.
I also have Celiac’s. There is nothing worse than when family members insist on me eating whatever food they “think” is safe. “It’s a plain salad” – that’s great, but did you cut all of the ingredients on a clean, uncontaminated surface. Are the bowls and serving utensil uncontaminated too…
I could never knock Sarah for her charity work. She is and always was a very personable, friendly and caring for all her other character flaws. Good for her taking this patronage.
She looks really rough for her age. Good for her and Andrew if they’ve decided they want to go all in again. I always thought they stayed great friends with benefits, lol. I think they work better that way. It was trying to be married that did them in.
Oh man, I missed the fact that you got alpha gal. I met a guy at a swim meet in MD who had a particularly bad case (apparently his town, being in the middle of 2 migratory paths, has been hit by alpha gal in a BIG way) and wanted to pass on some of the stuff he told me. His case is so bad that he had to use different pots and pans, utensils, and plates. In my mind, I kind of compared it to a kosher person living in a house where not everyone keeps kosher. He also warned to be careful of lanolin (and moisturizers and deodorants) in winter if you live in a cold climate, avoid fish from Asia (the AG community has had some reactions because some of the fish was fed mammal meat) and Domino sugar (they still refine with bone char, which can cause reactions).
Wow, that’s amazing that sugar can cause meat reactions! Very important information. My heart goes out to those with severe allergies.
I live with this fear everyday. My youngest has severe peanut, tree nut and sesame allergies (anaphylactic) as well as some less serious food allergies and environmental allergies. I have anxiety everyday worrying that today is going to be the day that my worst nightmare happens and we lose him.
I also deal with several less severe food allergies some that I’ve had since childhood and some that I’ve developed as an adult (soy, avocado .. ) as well as severe environmental allergies and an allergy to amoxicillin. Allergies are not a joke and can be deadly.
My son has severe food allergies. The main ones that we know of are nuts, eggs and dairy, but there are some unknown allergies too. He had a reaction a few weeks ago and it’s terrifying. Having to hold him down and jab him with one or more epi pens. We just don’t eat out because, human error. Lots of people don’t get how severe it is so we just eat at home. He’s almost 7 now. I just try my best and tell him this makes him more healthy. Love my strong little man. It’s nice seeing stories like this because I don’t feel so alone 🙂
@celebitchy has your son been eating strawberries? I got what my Doctor described as the worst case of hives she’s ever seen after eating several containers of non-organic strawberries in one week, it was awful and I didn’t want to go near a strawberry for years, but my Dr. said I could eat 1 or 2 organic berries (the pesticides they use on strawberries are so toxic the people spraying them wear hazmat suits at some farms) and I am ok doing that. Hives are awful!!