A father of two with a severe and rare allergy said one sniff of a carrot could kill him.
Andy Walters, 33, of Wrexham, suffers from a series of serious allergies – the most unusual of which is an intense sensitivity to the orange vegetables.
The allergies are so severe he has been hospitalised and has sought specialist medical treatment.
Mr Walters, a youth worker and teaching assistant, said colleagues and even his elder son, who is 12, had saved his life on several occasions after anaphylactic episodes.
He said: “I’ve known from quite a young age that certain things trigger an allergic reaction, but it’s been over the last five years that carrots became a real problem.
“In the last 18 months I have had to avoid them completely.
“At first, raw carrots would trigger an attack so I wouldn’t eat them, but over the years I’ve become sensitive to cooked carrots and even a little bit of carotene in a soft drink.
“It’s so bad that when I was in Abakhan in Mostyn this week, there was steam from cooking carrots in the canteen and it affected me.
“I felt so poorly I went to bed at 4.30pm.”
An attack in December was so severe Mr Walters ended up in hospital for several weeks and used up about 13 epi-pens, which deliver a dose of epinephrine and buy him time before medics attend to deal with the allergy.
He said: “It was terrible. Every time they brought round the trolley with cooked carrots on it I’d go into anaphylaxis.”
Severe anaphylaxis can cause rashes, swollen eyes, faintness, nausea and pain and swelling in the mouth and throat, which can cause a sufferer’s airway to close.
Mr Walters is also allergic to wasps and after being stung, it was only the quick thinking of his son, who ran to fetch medication and elevated the affected arm, which kept him going.
Mr Walters said: “Obviously I’ve had to stop eating anything with carrots in it. What surprised me is just how often carotene ends up as an ingredient.
Source: www.newsnorthwales.co.uk