Thornhill couple fights for allergy safety changes at Markham Libraries

One Year Anniversary of Death of Thornhill Native Approaches

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 22, 2016
By Simone Jospeh

When Andrea Mariano died in her first week at Queen’s University last September, her death touched Thornhill residents Peter Deboran and Jyoti Parmar in a very personal way.

“It hit home because we knew that our children would be having the same challenges and possibly the same consequences as her, unless we did something about it,” Deboran said.

Andrea Mariano, a Thornhill student, ate a smoothie on campus that contained either dairy or peanut products, both of which cause severe allergic reactions.

“I cried, because although most parents may once in a while feel sad or fearful that something terrible might happen to their child, I regularly feel this because food is everywhere,” Deboran said.

His wife, Jyoti Parmar, also had a strong reaction.

“Every parent’s worst fear is losing a child.  As parents of children with food allergies, the thought of an anaphylactic reaction is always on our mind.”

The family lives on the Markham side of Thornhill and two out of three of their children have serious food allergies.

Their eldest child, Sahil, 12, is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts and soy. Their middle child Anika, 10, has no allergies. Jaya, their youngest daughter, 6, is allergic to dairy, eggs, tree nuts and peanuts.

Parmar further describes her reaction to the tragic death of the Queen’s student.

“It scares me. She [Mariano] was 18. The teen years are a time when you are discovering yourself. You may not highlight (a food allergy) or want to bring attention to yourself,” she said, pointing out that students in first year college or university just want to blend in.

In the year since Mariano’s death, the tragedy has served as a kind of catalyst, spurring the couple to take action close to home.

Peter Deboran and Jyoti Parmar have been lobbyingh the Markham Public Library board to eliminate food in the children’s area of libraries.

They have also organized a walk in memory of Andrea Mariano.

This program was created last year in response to a rise in emergency room visits and the recognition that more children are being diagnosed with life-threatening allergies. The funds will be used to discover new therapies for individuals with severe allergies and to find a cure.

Deboran and Parmar first met with the Mariano family in March to discuss the fundraiser and the couples have met regularly to plan the event ever since.

Deboran is a vice principal with the Toronto District School Board and Jyoti Parmar is a dentist with Toronto Public Health.

Their children’s food allergies are anaphylactic - which means they are life threatening.

“In our children's case, they could die within 15 minutes if they mistakenly ingest even a microscopic amount of their allergen and we'll never be able to say goodbye.  This is not about personal choices.  They did not choose to have allergies,” Deboran said.

Back in November of last year, Deboran and Parmar presented an appeal to the Markham Public Library Board to restrict food in the children’s spaces of libraries.

One reason why the couple approached the board is because their children were unable to use the library branches because of their food allergies.

“Lots of people eat,” Deboran said. “I’ve seen parents feeding kids full meals”, he said referring to libraries and community centres. “I’ve seen parents with food everywhere.”

The board agreed to launch a pilot project at Cornell library branch to introduce a food-free children’s section between February to May of this year.

The community response was positive, with some people saying the library should have done it sooner, said Patrick Pan, branch manager for the Cornell library.

After five months of the pilot project, the children’s area was neater and safer, he said. The board decided to continue the food-free children’s area at that branch.

Also, this pilot project will be rolled out to other Markham branches starting in September, Pan said.

“The library board's decision is a crucial first step,” Deboran said in an email.

The next major step is the fundraiser to honour Andrea Mariano.

The fundraising walk will be held on Sunday, Oct. 2 at Milne Park in Markham. Funds raised will go to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Research Program at SickKids Hospital in Toronto.

Deboran explains what they hope to accomplish with this event to honour Andrea Mariano.

“We want to help all these parents who are living every moment of their lives worried about the children they love; we want to make sure Andrea's death teaches us to be careful with children's lives; we want to find a cure”.

Go to walkforandrea.ca/ for more information about the fundraiser.