At only 6 months old, our middle daughter, Sarah, was diagnosed with a peanut allergy. No one used the words “life threatening” or “anaphylactic shock” so we thought we were fine. We were told she might only end up getting topical reactions and were sent home with an Epipen prescription that we never filled. At the time, it didn’t seem like a big deal to us. We had no idea.

Fast forward then to the moment we ended up in the emergency room with her due to an accidental ingestion of peanut butter at preschool. All it took was one bite of a granola bar. One bite. And this time, we heard the words no parents should ever hear, “You could have lost your child today.” We tested her for food allergies, we knew she had food allergies, but we were unaware of how serious it really was. We did everything wrong that day. We ignored the signs. We delayed giving her epinephrine. We took her home. We put her in the bath. We used the Epipen as a last resort.