How to support vital work of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, the UK’s food allergy charity.
Words: Rachel Ellis
Images: Natasha Allergy Research Foundation
Natasha Ednan-Laperouse developed allergies to sesame, eggs, banana and cow’s milk as a young child. By the time she was school age, she had experienced three anaphylactic reactions that needed emergency medical treatment. Her parents Nadim and Tanya did everything they could to keep Natasha safe, with no outside support or advice.
Natasha understood the severity of her allergies from a young age too, and she never ate any food unless she knew it was safe for her to do so. But as a family, they lived every day with the fear of her accidentally ingesting an allergen.
Tragically, Natasha died in the summer of 2016, aged just 15.
She experienced a severe allergic reaction on a British Airways flight – just two days into the summer holidays. Natasha had eaten a baguette sandwich bought from a Pret a Manger at Heathrow Terminal 5 before boarding. It contained sesame seeds which she was allergic to, baked into the dough of the bread, invisible to the naked eye and not listed on the ingredients label.
When she went into anaphylactic shock whilst onboard the plane, two EpiPen injections had no effect. She had multiple cardiac arrests as a junior doctor and later French paramedics fought to save her life with CPR. Natasha was pronounced dead in a hospital in Nice later that day.
At her inquest in 2018, the coroner stated that if there had been allergen information on the baguette, Natasha would not have eaten it, and she would still be alive today.
Natasha’s death put her parents Nadim and Tanya on a mission to campaign for change. They set up The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, the UK’s food allergy charity, in 2019 to improve awareness and understanding of food allergies so that other families do not have to experience the terrible loss they endure. With their own personal experience of food allergies as a guide, they are a voice for the millions of people living with food allergies and their families, highlighting the challenges they face, the gaps in healthcare provision and the woeful lack of understanding that food allergies are not a choice or a lifestyle preference but a serious medical condition that can, for some, be fatal.
The work of Natasha’s Foundation falls into three key areas: education, campaigning and medical research. The charity successfully campaigned for Natasha’s Law to improve labelling on pre-packed foods for direct sale, which came into force in October 2021. Since its implementation, we have heard from people across the UK who have said that Natasha’s Law is such an important step to give allergic individuals and families essential information to help them make safe choices. The charity is also campaigning for the Government to appoint an Allergy Tsar, a national lead to act as a champion and drive change for the one in three people in the UK living with allergies, is funding a major £2.7 million clinical trial which uses oral immunotherapy to treat peanut and cow’s milk allergies, and offers bursaries to help train the next generation of allergy specialists.
It recently launched a new, free, national, educational programme called Allergy School to improve awareness and understanding of food allergies in schools so that all children can feel empowered, included and protected in and out of the classroom.
Nadim and Tanya’s lived experience of food allergy and passion to bring about change, means Natasha’s Foundation is perfectly placed to be the voice of the food allergy community.
The charity has made great strides over the last few years. However, its work is far from done and we are ambitious in our goals: ultimately, we want to make allergies history. To do that we need your support, so if you are able, please make a donation to Natasha’s Foundation via our website www.narf.org.uk or using the QR code below.
Together we can improve the lives of the millions of people living with food allergies, and make the world a safer place for them.
