Why Food Allergies Are Not Funny

Dear Today Show Team,

I am the mother of a food allergic child. My son Joshua, who is 10 years old, has an anaphylactic peanut allergy. I was both shocked and surprised watching the Today Show segment that joked about nut allergies. I found it to be insensitive to the millions of Americans who live each day with this invisible but potentially fatal disability.

I need to ask you, do you really think it's okay to make fun of a kid's throat closing from a nut and then laugh at the meds that can save him? I understand this segment was about the world's largest pistachio and you joked how anyone with a nut allergy should stay away. But you went further, making light of using an Epi-Pen. I believe you crossed the line from funny to insulting. Would you do a segment in a candy store on the world's biggest candy cane and then make fun of diabetics having to inject with insulin?

I know it was not funny when my young child begged me not to let him die as his throat was closing. He did clutch his throat and he was so very frightened. Seeing the light slowly fade from his eyes did not inspire laughter from me. No one asks for this condition. I would wish it on no other parent.

It is no wonder why kids are embarrassed and bullied due to food allergies. When a public figure makes light of this kind of situation, he puts my child and others like him at risk because it perpetuates the myth that food allergies are not serious.

What is sadder is that this took place during Food Allergy Awareness Week. As a leading advocate for people with food allergies, I implore you to do a segment on the challenges a child or adult faces when living with a life threatening food allergy. Challenges like grocery shopping, label reading, navigating birthday parties, attending school, eating out in restaurants and travel become logistical nightmares. Approximately 15 million Americans have food allergies. It affects 1 in 13 children in the United States which translates to about two children in each classroom. Every 3 minutes, a food allergy reaction sends someone to the ER . Please help us educate the greater public about the need to respect life threatening food allergies. Let's turn this around.

Respectfully yours,

A concerned food allergy mom.