Belinda Vaca (left, at the Texas State Capitol earlier this year, and, right, in 2014 with her son, Sergio Lopez) helped push through a new food allergy awareness law in Texas.Photo:Courtesy Belinda Vaca
Courtesy Belinda Vaca
Belinda Vaca knew how careful her son was about hispeanut allergy, so she never worried about him having a fatal reaction. Now she’s fighting to make sure that no one else loses a loved one because of a restaurant’s mistake — as she did nine years ago.
Even as a child, Sergio took his allergy seriously. In school, where he was known as “the peanut boy,” he’d remind his classmates and teachers to keep nuts out of the classroom. He carried hand wipes everywhere and avoided public toilets for fear of contamination.
Sergio Lopez, who was allergic to peanuts, died of anaphylaxis in 2014 after eating a take-out taco that he didn’t know contained peanut butter.Courtesy Belinda Vaca
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So in June of 2014, when the 24-year-old ordered a vegetarian taco for lunch at a restaurant in McAllen, Texas, he was typically cautious, asking three times whether the dish contained peanuts. No, he was told, only spices. But less than 12 hours later, Lopez was dead of anaphylaxis: The taco had been made with a sauce containing peanut butter.
Afterward, the restaurant owner said Lopez asked about peanuts — but not peanut butter. “This shouldn’t happen,” Vaca thought. “There should be a law.”
A new Texas law will require all restaurants to post food allergy awareness posters like this one beginning Sept. 1, 2024..Courtesy Belinda Vaca
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“It was ignorance,” Vaca says of how the restaurant treated the concerns of her son, a musician (he played guitar, cello and bagpipes) who taught music and studied engineering at the University of Texas at Brownsville. “Making people aware is my way of dealing with grief,” says Vaca, who decided against suing the restaurant but is pushing for similar laws in other states. “And it’s a way to give love to my son.”
source: people.com
