'She was suffocating:' Fuquay-Varina family hopes tragedy leads to food allergy awareness
A small bite of cookie permanently changed a Fuquay-Varina family. As part of Food Allergy Awareness month, Mayda and John Minsk sat down with WRAL 5 On Your Side’s Keely Arthur to discuss their daughter Celina Rose Minsk and the importance of food allergy awareness.
When you ask friends and family to describe Celina Rose Minsk you’ll get responses like these:
“She’s genuinely the strongest person I ever met.”
“She became family to anyone she knew.”
“She had this infectious love.”
“She was sweet, she loved Jesus, she was kind.”
Celina, 15, was the only child of her parents John and Mayda Minsk. She grew up in New England and was a vibrant and healthy girl, aside from a severe food allergy which was discovered at age five after she bit into a peanut butter sandwich.
“She was old enough to remember and it hurt,” explained Mayda Minsk.
Through classrooms, birthday parties and a move to North Carolina, Celina dodged an exposure for a decade.
“She was so good about it,” Mayda said.
Celina’s vigilance was matched by her parents.
“We would usually take a bite and taste-test food,” Mayda said.
Their caution and vigilance are what make the next part of Celina’s story so upsetting. Earlier this year, John Minsk attended a social and was offered cookie as he left.
“I asked, ‘Does it have any nuts in it?’ and they said ‘It’s gluten free, it’s nut free,’” John said.
“So, I wrote on the bag gluten free, nut free,” added Mayda.
Celina took a bite and immediately had a reaction. The family quickly realized that the cookies were made almost entirely of nut.
“It had almond flour,” John said.
Celina became sick and became anaphylactic. She received a shot of epinephrine, but by that point her pulse started to fade.
“She was literally suffocating. I will never forget that," Mayda said.
First responders arrived and tried to revive Celina.
“She had no pulse for 67 minutes,” John said.
She was taken to a nearby hospital and that’s when John and Mayda were told she was likely brain dead. Celina was taken off life support days later and pronounced dead on Feb. 22, 2023.
Food alternatives and popular diets increase risk for kids with food allergies
The Minsk family told WRAL 5 On Your Side that they believe what happened to their daughter was an innocent mistake and they do not blame anyone. They shared their story to tell the public about their incredible daughter and shed light on food allergy awareness – especially as eating habits change.
With the rise in popularity of diets like Keto, vegan, gluten free, items like cow’s milk, pasta and even popular styles of chips continue to be replaceable by nut-based products. What is healthy for one person can be poisoning for another – especially as more kids are diagnosed with food allergies.
“Every classroom probably has about 1 or 2 children that have a food allergy in it,” explained allergist-immunologist Dr. Jonathan Romeo of Allergy Partners of the Triangle. “Between the late 90s and early 2000s there was a 50 percent increase, and an almost triple increase in children with food allergies.”
Romeo points to something called the Hygiene Hypothesis to explain the rise in food allergies. It’s the idea that as humans live in cleaner environments their immune systems aren’t forced to be as strong, thus, making reactions to allergens more likely. The theory was proven in one study.
“In one group, researchers introduced peanuts early, around 6 months old, and in the other group they followed the traditional guidelines and waited until kids were around 4 years old, and what they found in the study is that the kids that got peanut early had a fourfold reduction in the incidents of food allergy,” Romeo explained.
Once you develop a severe allergy and suffer exposure, an epinephrine injection, which relaxes the muscles in the airway making it easier to breathe, remains the best line of defense.
Because first responders were able to restore Celina’s pulse, her organs remained viable and were donated.
“Which we feel is amazing because it gives us peace,” John said.
“Because of her sacrifice, there are now families that are rejoicing that their loved one has been saved,” Celina’s uncle said.
Celina’s organs went to five people, and her story will stay in the hearts of many more.
“When we were in the hospital, our friend looked up the meaning of her name ‘Celina’ and it means heavenly moon,” Mayda said. “She was definitely a heavenly moon, absolutely a bright light.”
