'Really dangerous': How US teen could die from a kiss
Dawn Cofini has much more to worry about than just the normal concerns every parent has when their child starts dating, for her son his first romance could be fatal.
The New Yorker is worried that when her son starts dating, just kissing a girl could kill him, due to his allergy to peanuts.
Stone Cofini, 15, is so allergic to peanuts that just inhaling the dust from one could put him into anaphylactic shock - a state where his airways narrow and oxygen is cut off.
“If a girl had previously eaten something fried in peanut oil [and then kissed Stone],” Ms Cofini told the New York Post.
"It would really be dangerous.”
While he isn't allowed to date until he turns 16 next January, Ms Cofini is already worried about the prospect of it.
And she isn't over reacting as just four years ago, 20-year-old Myriam Ducré-Lemay, of Quebec, died after accidentally receiving a peanut-laced kiss from her boyfriend.
“You wave goodbye to your child in the morning wondering whether it’s the last time you’ll see them,” Ms Cofini said.
According to a 2014 report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, some 2,458 people died in the US between 1999 and 2010 due to anaphylaxis.
Stone's parents don't send him to a private, nut-free school nearby because Ms Cofini believes he needs to learn to look out for himself.
“Now that he’s an adolescent, we can’t watch over him 24/7. We’ve had to teach him to advocate for himself," she said.
Stone added: “As I grow older, I know the ultimate responsibility is down to me.”
He is due to start a treatment called Oral Immunotherapy, which involves swallowing miniscule amoutns of peanut flour, in increases doses under close medical supervision, this month.
