“Don’t go mad Mum, but I’m in hospital.”

Will’s opening gambit, calling from Thailand.

It was 4.30pm on Friday and I was about to log-off for the day. When Will’s name came up on my phone screen I was pleasantly surprised to hear from him thinking he’d be calling to tell me about his adventures in Koh Samui. As it turned out, my worst – my only – fear about his travelling to Asia had come true. He’d eaten peanuts.

It was back in 2006 that we first found out William was severely allergic, although then it was egg. He screamed and screamed and screamed. And then he stopped screaming because he’d stopped breathing.

At that time, the doctors did a number of scratch tests which showed that William was allergic to horses, cats, eggs, dogs and above all, peanuts.

Horses are still a no, no, he’ll come up in hives and it affects his breathing. We got a puppy, that sorted the dog issue out. Although his asthma gets worse around other dogs. Same for cats.

Peanuts are a no no. You cannot overcome them. You cannot grow out of them. Your only option is to either carry an epipen with you at all times, or go on a Palforzia desensitivity programme conducted under hospital conditions.

Aware of all these issues before William went to Asia, I never wanted anything to be closed to him because of his allergy. I thought that if he went on a tour, he would be with a guide who could make sure he was safe and his food checked all the way. We chose Singapore Airlines because it can guarantee it’s nut-free. He packed two epipens and has carried them with him every day. I thought we were as copper-covered as we could be.

But what you can’t predict, is the varying levels of allergy awareness in restaurants. This could have happened at any time, any where that staff aren’t trained to understand what it means when someone says they have an allergy. Or to ask the right questions.

That evening the tour had gone out for supper and Will had asked if the course he wanted contained nuts. The waiter said no. The tour guide also asked, in Thai. The waiter said no. And so they trusted the waiter. But what they hadn’t asked specifically, and what the waiter didn’t take into account, was the fact that the food was fried in peanut oil.

Will said he got halfway through before he started to feel ‘weird’. Of course never having been exposed to peanuts, he wouldn’t have known the warning signs. And trusting the restaurant, he’d already eaten a significant amount of peanut. Thank God he wasn’t in the middle of nowhere, and by incredible luck there was a hospital walking distance from the restaurant.

By the time he arrived at the hospital he was in anaphylactic shock. It took six epipens to settle the reaction down, and then he was moved to a room, given oxygen and put on a drip.

By the time he called me three hours later, he was already feeling better.

Would this have happened if he’d travelled somewhere else? Absolutely. I’ve always known it was always going to happen somewhere at some point. At least now he’ll be able to recognise the signs and be more able to respond. Although I sincerely hope he never has to.

In the meantime he’s happy to be back on the road. I did fleetingly consider whether to fly out, but in the end I was more useful sorting out the insurance and being on the end of the phone here, than incommunicado at 40,000 feet. That said, it’s been very hard feeling so far away these past few days.

I’m in awe of Will’s calmness and maturity through all of this. He was more concerned about covering his hospital costs and getting back to the tour, not to mention whether he’d be able to keep his hospital scrubs as a momento!

Today’s WhatsApp from William simply said;

“Round every storm is a rainbow, and I can officially say that as a side effect of all the drugs I took in hospital, I am now officially eczema free. 🥳🥳🥳”

“Not a reason to eat peanuts again tho. EVER.” I replied.

“Fr.”