Son Enjoys Thanksgiving Dessert, Moments Later He is Lifeless In His Father's Arms

Sep 24, 2018

People from all walks of life are wearing red sneakers to remember the life of a young man who left us much too soon. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, 11-year-old Oakley Debbs passed away from simply eating a piece of cake.

The people who knew Oakley not only want to remember him for being a brilliant young man. They want to raise awareness so that what happened to Oakley will not happen to others. This is why they are wearing the red sneakers.

Raised in West Palm Beach, Florida, Oakley Debbs was indeed a young man with incredible potential. He was a straight-A student and a star athlete. He managed these successes despite having asthma and allergies. He was also a Marathon runner, which is quite a rare accomplishment for someone his age.

While vacationing in Maine for the Thanksgiving holiday, relatives ordered Oakley a special gift basket. In the gift basket was a pound cake. On the evening of November 24th, Oakley decided to have a piece of the cake.

Merrill Debbs, Oakley's mother, said they hadn't even noticed the cake. Oakley had an allergy to nuts, but was usually good at checking labels and making sure there were no nuts in the food he was eating. He took a look at the pound cake and saw no apparent sign of nuts.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until Oakley actually ate part of the cake that he realized it might contain nuts. "He thought it was just a piece of cake," Oakley's father, Richard Debbs said. "But when he ate it, he came over and said it might contain nuts." After his mother tried some, she agreed that there seemed to be nuts (later identified as walnuts) in the cake.

Upon realizing Oakley had eaten a food to which he had an allergy, his mother gave him Benadryl pills. They had done this in the past when Oakley had mistakenly eaten nuts and it worked. At first, it seemed to be working again, but things began to take a turn for the worse.

Experiencing chest pains, Oakley began feeling nauseous and vomited. He started feeling better after that, but again, started to feel worse not too long after.

"He started throwing up and from there it was a tornado of issues," Merrill said. By the time the ambulance got there-about ten minutes later-he was blue." After about an hour and a half, Oakley's airwaves had closed off, making breathing impossible.

Oakley had a plan to deal with his asthma and other allergies, but physicians had told him his food allergies were not as serious and had not prescribed any medications for him to take for them.

Now, Oakley's family and a whole community of people are working together to ensure this tragedy does not happen to others. They have started the Red Sneaker Foundation, which is dedicated to educating people about these problems.

What do you think about this article? What have you learned about food allergies? Will you do anything to help educate others about the importance of treating allergies properly? Please let us know, and be sure to show your friends this article. They are welcome to provide their feedback as well.