An 11-year-old bot from Maine, Oakley Debbs, on the Thanksgiving, was enjoying the holiday with his family. Despite his asthma and allergies, Oakley was a star student who was also an athlete.
As his family bought a Thanksgiving basket, Oakley wanted a piece from the cake. Sadly, that cake caused his life.
Oakley was a star student in the school, where he would participate in tennis, football, soccer and running in marathons, despite he had asthma and nut allergy.
On the 24th of November, after Oakley ate a cake he found on the kitchen table, a terrible thing happened. Oakley’s mother Merrill shared that her son would check the label before eating anything.
“He thought it was just a piece of cake,” Oakley’s father Robert Debbs said. “But when he ate it, he come over and said it might have contained nuts.”
After Merrill tasted it, she confirmed that it had nut in it. “Merrill did what we usually do, she gave him Benadryl [pills],” the father said. “And he came back and said he felt fine.”
Then Oakley said that he had a pain in his chest, and started to vomiting. Until the ambulance arrived in 10 minutes, Oakley suffocated and his heart stopped.
“I don’t think my beautiful, amazing, talented, adorable son should have passed away,” the grieving mother said.
After losing their son, the family founded the Red Sneaker Foundation to educate people about the food allergies.
“The child of mine, he was a rock star, he was a good, good kid,” Merrill said. “And always in my heart of hearts, I knew that he would make a difference in his life – I just didn’t know it would be after he passed away. So that’s a big part of my driving force – the legacy of Oakley.”
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