11-Year-Old Boy Dies After Suspected Allergic Reaction to Smell of Cooking Fish, Says Father

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A New Jersey boy died of an apparent allergic reaction after inhaling fumes from fish cooking in the family’s kitchen, according to his father.

“Daddy, I love you,” Camron Jean-Pierre, 11, the boy told his father, Steven Jean-Pierre, reported the New York Post. “He gave me two kisses,” he said, as the boy faded in and out of consciousness.

The father and son traveled from New Jersey to spend New Year’s Day with his grandmother in Brooklyn.

“It just so happens they was cooking it when we came in,” added Jean-Pierre. “Usually he don’t get nothing that severe.”

He said the fish fumes overwhelmed the boy and he passed out before his death, the paper reported.

Jean-Pierre said it was known that his son had an allergy to fish, and the New York Daily News reported that he had asthma as well. The father administered the child’s nebulizer for asthma, but the child couldn’t catch a breath, according to the New York Post.

“I [tried] to give him the machine—that usually works—but it didn’t take, and then I just called the ambulance,” said the heartbroken father.

As he waited for an ambulance to arrive, Jean-Pierre desperately tried to resuscitate his son with CPR. “It felt like he had no pulse. I [tried] to give him CPR and he came back,” but the boy slipped away, he added to the Post.

The boy was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

“My son was the best,” the father said. “He made everyone around him happy. He made his dad happy.”

“That was my prince, man,” he said. “He was my everything.”

Jean-Pierre said he tried to keep fish away from the boy due to his allergy.

“We knew he had an allergy…He don’t eat fish. We don’t put it around him. It just so happens they was cooking it when we came in,” he told the New York Daily News.

He said his son loved playing sports and was a wide receiver for the Brooklyn Skyhawks and enjoyed playing basketball.

“He was a very good father. Anywhere you see him, you see the son,” Marlin Fraser, 47, a neighbor, told the Daily News about the father and son. Camron was a “very respectful child,” Fraser continued. “He was a very nice child,” she added. “It’s shocking for us.”

Fish Allergy?

According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology website, “While less common in the general population than other types of food allergies, an allergy to finned fish is a frequent cause of anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that appears quickly, impairs breathing and can send the body into shock.”

It adds: “Having an allergy to a finned fish (such as tuna, halibut or salmon) does not mean that you are also allergic to shellfish (shrimp, crab and lobster). While some allergists recommend that individuals with a fish allergy avoid eating all fish, it may be possible for someone allergic to one type of fish to safely eat other kinds. If you are allergic to a specific type of fish, your allergist can help you determine whether other varieties may be safe to eat, so you can take control of your fish allergy and start enjoying life again.”