Peanut Allergy – Beware of hidden threats
It was late that July evening when the Hom family of San Jose arrived at the Mexican resort to celebrate eldest son BJ’s graduation from Evergreen Valley High School and his 18th birthday.
The beach and the luggage could wait. Everyone was hungry after hours of flying, so they grabbed a quick dinner at the buffet and wandered around the resort.
Soon after, BJ complained of a sore throat, then said he was sick and needed to go to the room. On the way to the elevator, he turned pale, started gasping for air and collapsed on the lobby floor. His frantic family, paramedics and hotel staff tried to save him.
“I’m yelling at him, ‘Breathe, BJ, breathe!’ ” father Brian Hom recalls.
But paramedics found his throat had swollen shut. The teen with a shy smile and a love of all things basketball died minutes later — less than three hours after landing in Cabo.
Brian and Kathy Hom thought their son had choked on a cough drop. They discovered later that BJ had unwittingly eaten finely ground peanuts in a dish where one wouldn’t expect to find them — chocolate mousse. And because his peanut allergy had always been so mild, BJ didn’t carry an injector pen filled with potentially lifesaving medication.
Since that horrific day in 2008, Brian Hom has channeled his grief and anger into a new role: He is now a crusader in the movement to educate parents, children, travelers, chefs — anyone who will listen — about the dangers of food allergies and anaphylactic shock, the acute reaction that caused BJ’s death. He speaks nationwide, writes for allergy food blogs and tells his family’s story on TV and radio.
“My wife and I were devastated. How could this happen?” he says. “What we’ve learned is that just because you have a mild allergy” — BJ’s rare episodes had been easily treated with antihistamines — “it doesn’t mean you can’t go into full anaphylaxis at any time. The last three years I’ve been on a campaign to basically figure out a cure or raise awareness so other families don’t have to lose a child this way.”
On Saturday, Hom will deliver that message to hundreds of Bay Area residents at the first BJ Hom Memorial 5K Run and Walk, a fundraising race and informational fair at Lake Cunningham Park in San Jose. With Kathy’s support and the sponsorship of the couple’s employer, Hitachi, he has spent months coordinating the event for FAAN, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, a national nonprofit group. Their surviving sons, Brandon and Steven, will run wearing T-shirts that read, “In Loving Memory of My Brother.”
Also running will be “Team Matt Lee” from Discovery Bay, made up of family and friends of Matthew Lee, 26, who was a witness to last spring’s beating of Giants fan Bryan Stow. Lee died July 31 of anaphylaxis after eating nuts in a salad.
“Brian’s really taken this terrible loss and tried to make something positive come out of it by spreading the word,” says Maria Acebal, CEO of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, whose organization honored Hom with its Family Advocacy Award.
Nationwide, the prevalence of food allergies is increasing, Acebal says, and there is no cure. As many as 15 million Americans, including nearly 6 million children, have a food allergy. The top eight allergens include peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, milk, eggs, wheat and soy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an 18 percent rise in food allergies from 1997 to 2008.
“It’s very dangerous to talk about having only a mild food allergy because food allergies have the potential to be deadly,” she says. “We stress that the epinephrine injector has to be with you at all times,” and preferably two, in case a second dose is required.
Known widely by the trademark EpiPen, the auto-injector delivers — via a shot to the thigh — a shot of prescription epinephrine to someone suffering anaphylaxis.
Sadly, Acebal and Hom say, many young people are reluctant to carry an EpiPen with them, because they don’t want to appear different or needy.
Never be without one, Acebal counsels them. If you forget it at home, go back and retrieve it, she says. “I don’t care if you miss an exam or if you miss the most important job interview of your life, but that epinephrine injector has to be with you at all times.”
Upstairs at the Hom home, BJ’s bedroom sits untouched since 2008. His basketball trophies share shelf space with a ball signed by the Harlem Globetrotters, a Kobe Bryant poster, a Phoenix Suns wristwatch, a family vacation photo — and one poignant reminder of the child still within every 18-year-old, a DVD of an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie.
The family visits his grave weekly, usually after services at the Cathedral of Faith. They turned to Christianity after the tragedy, Hom says.
For the first two years, they shunned all vacations. But this year, second son Brandon graduated from Evergreen Valley High and turned 18. The family wanted to celebrate his accomplishments — this time with a trip to Hawaii.
“I was scared, but we were prepared,” Hom says. The family asked the airline to keep all peanut snacks off the plane. They brought along EpiPens. And they quizzed the hotel chef about food preparation.
“It was a big boulder off my shoulders … that we could make it through successfully,” Hom says.
They may have numbered four, but they were vacationing as a family of five.
“BJ was with us on this trip too.”
Contact Linda Zavoral at 408-920-5960.
BJ Hom Memorial 5K Run and Walk
What: Food allergy awareness event will also include live music, taiko and dance; sports memorabilia auction; martial arts demo; rock-climbing wall; and allergy-free foods.
When: 7 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, rain or shine
Where: Lake Cunningham Park, Cypress Pavilion, 2305
S. White Road, San Jose
Details: Runners and walkers can sign up as late as the morning of the event. Run check-in starts at 7 a.m., with the run at 8. (Fee, $30 advance or $35 day of race.) Walk check-in begins at 9 a.m., with the walk at 10. The walk is a free event.
To donate or register: www.foodallergywalk.org/BJHomMemorial5K
Restaurant fundraiser: Five eateries at Evergreen Market Square on San Felipe Road will donate a portion of their proceeds that day to the cause.
