I have lived with severe food allergies since the day I was born, and at this point I am so used to them, I couldn’t imagine living any other way. I am allergic to dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, and avocados. When I say I am allergic to these things, I mean that my body goes into anaphylactic shock if I ingest them. Many people don’t understand the severity of this; anaphylactic shock is when your blood pressure drops, your throat swells shut and you can barely breathe. It is crucial that you carry an Epi-Pen with you at all times, because this will save your life. Yeah, scary… I know. This is the most severe type of reaction that can happen and unfortunately I have experienced it more than once.

I came to Temple in Fall 2014, and during my freshman year I was hospitalized three times. I knew that transitioning from living at home to being on my own in college was going to be difficult no matter where I decided to go. For me, an attractive thing about Temple was that there was a hospital right down the street (as well as everything about it being awesome). While I am very thankful that Temple Hospital has saved my life three times, Temple’s Dining Services also put me there.

I always here students talk about Sodexo employees. Whether it’s “The lady at Dos Manos is the best, she always hooks me up with extra guac” or “I asked for no cheese and they gave me cheese. These people literally don’t give a sh*t.” It’s honestly hit or miss. My experiences have led me to the side of they don’t give a sh*t… for the most part. I believe that at any food establishment, employees should be knowledgeable and trained to some extent about food allergies. They should at least know the basics- label all allergen ingredients, and don’t cross contaminate!

I’d be more than willing to go into detail about each hospitalization, but for the purpose of this story, I will just share the story about the time that Sodexo’s negligence almost sent me to death’s door.

I was getting lunch with my boyfriend at Morgan’s upstairs dining hall. I decided to be adventurous and try a “vegan” black bean burger. The dining halls do have specific labels for foods that are gluten free, vegetarian and vegan. So I figured that since this black bean burger was “vegan” I should be safe to try it- wrong.

I’ve learned that my body reacts to different foods in different ways when I am having an allergic reaction. Most of the time, I can immediately detect when I am experiencing an allergic reaction. My lips and mouth swell and I obviously stop eating the food. But in some cases, usually when the allergen is cooked into the food, I don’t get this alarming sensation at all. This is when it is most dangerous and this is what happened with the black bean burger.

So I ate the entire black bean burger and felt fairly normal. After lunch I went to class and when I got there my eye started to feel swollen. I immediately took Benadryl because that is always the first thing to do when experiencing an allergic reaction. I was hoping the swelling would die down, but it just got worse. Then my breathing started to get tight and I knew I needed to leave. It was still the beginning of class, but I wanted to tell my professor what was happening so he didn’t take away attendance points. You know…the important things. He excused me and asked if there was anything he could do. I should have said, “Yes, call 911!” but I was scared and could barely talk and said, “No, I’m good”. Stupid me, I was the opposite of “good”. I went into the nearest bathroom to assess my situation. I looked in the mirror and I was bright red, and swollen like a balloon. I took my emergency inhaler to help my breathing, but I knew I needed my Epi-Pen- right then and there. I stabbed my leg with that big freaking needle and felt some relief.

I made it out of that bathroom and then outside where I saw my boyfriend sprinting to find me. When he saw me, he started screaming to the nearest people, “Call 911! Call campus safety!” All I could do was focus on breathing. I waited as patiently as possible and finally a team of first responders came to my rescue. I was taken by ambulance over to Temple Hospital and kept overnight, where I was given more drugs and oxygen than I could even keep track of.

This was one of the scariest days of my life. If I didn’t have my Epi-Pen, my Benadryl and my inhaler, I never would have made it out of that bathroom. I am so thankful for those drugs, and for the people who helped me that day. But let’s rewind to the cause of this entire situation… the damn “vegan” black bean burger.

After speaking with Temple’s dietitian, we were able to confirm that Sodexo mislabeled the black bean burger as vegan, when it was in fact vegetarian. This might not seem like a big deal, but for those with food allergies, and also those who keep vegan…it is. Sorry to break it to you vegans, but you may have consumed dairy. Now, I’m not here to bash on Sodexo. Of course, I am not pleased with what happened, but it did, so it was time to deal with it effectively. It was more important to me that the problem was taken care of rather than forgotten about. I ended up getting to know Temple’s dietitian, his name is Justin and he is a really amazing asset to Temple’s dining services. I told Justin about all three incidents that occurred, and he was determined to make sure that they didn’t happen again. We set up a meeting to discuss what changes I would like to see in the dining halls and sure enough he made them happen.

I knew that I couldn’t let these hiccups taint my college experience. I loved Temple way too much to even consider transferring and these allergies would follow me wherever I’d go. When I came back the following fall to start my sophomore year, I was pleasantly surprised. I saw signs posted in food establishments about food allergies, and to let someone know if you have them. I saw more options in the dining hall that I could eat, such as vegan waffles and cookies (this is a huge treat). I even noticed that Sodexo employees were more cognizant of cross contamination. All of the things that Justin and I discussed in our meeting had been attended to. While I had to go through some really terrible things, I am so pleased that my voice was heard and changes were made. I’m happy to say I made no visits to the emergency room during my sophomore year and I look forward to keeping it that way.