Chezzi Denyer's warning to parents: "I fully encourage people to get their children tested"
Chezzi Denyer has taken to Instagram to share her daughter’s recent health scare to raise awareness, in the hopes that other parents do the same.
The mother-of-two, who has been married to Grant Denyer for the last nine years, posted a photo of her seven-year-old daughter Sailor’s arms after she was tested for allergies.
“These are Sailor’s little arms pricked with different drops of various things we suspect she could be allergic to,” she wrote.
Chezzi went on to say that her daughter’s results “are worse than they were three years ago,” as she now suffers from more allergies than before.
“She’s also now developed a reaction to peanuts for the first time. Also, oranges and avocados. So, we’ll carry an Epi-pen.”
The post came after Chezzi shared a family incident that occurred during a holiday, after Sailor was exposed to peanuts.
“Sailor had a bad allergic reaction a week ago. Her little throat started to close up. She had hives. We had to act fast. It’s not the first time, but it was worse this time. I wasn’t expecting it. We think it was cross-contamination of some pistachio nuts on some tongs at a hotel we stayed at.”
Speaking to 9Honey, Chezzi said that she was aware of Sailor’s minor allergies to cashews, but was surprised to see her results three years later.
“We knew she had a slight moderate allergy to cashews. We are very careful, but we also travel a lot, and I became complacent about cross contamination, like at the buffet.”
“Until it happens to you, [you] don’t quite understand the gravity of the situation.”
After sharing the heartfelt post, other parents in similar situations praised the 39-year-old for raising awareness about the seriousness of allergies.
“A lot of parents go through it and I take my hat off to them,” she tells 9Honey.
“It’s warmed me to see all the beautiful comments from people telling me about their own experiences.
“It seems to be getting a lot worse.”
Chezzi had dealt with her own allergy experience in the past, when she was 32 years old, “part of my Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was related to me myself having an anaphylactic reaction when Sailor was 18 months old,” she wrote.
“I arrived at hospital close to death, unable to breathe with swollen lips, eyes closed over and swollen tongue. They cut my clothes off me and put the paddles on my chest and at the same time gave me a large shot of adrenalin.”
She continued, saying: “As my husband drove me to hospital, I was throwing up and struggling to breathe. And it happened so quick. It was so unexpected. Grant’s quick thinking and driving skills saved my life that day.”
Chezzi then urged parents to remain vigilant and keep an eye on any adverse reactions their child may be going through when coming in contact with something.
“If you see any signs like hives around the mouth or if they complain that something they’ve eaten has made their mouth feel funny, of if they have itchy eyes, or sneezing a lot, I fully encourage people to get them tested.”