{"id":453,"date":"2026-03-24T13:56:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/03\/24\/moms-severe-latex-allergy-means-balloons-playgrounds-can-be-life-threatening\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T13:56:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:56:41","slug":"moms-severe-latex-allergy-means-balloons-playgrounds-can-be-life-threatening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/03\/24\/moms-severe-latex-allergy-means-balloons-playgrounds-can-be-life-threatening\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom&#8217;s Severe Latex Allergy Means Balloons, Playgrounds Can Be Life-Threatening"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Due to Richardson&#8217;s allergy, only her partner can take their 7-year-old son to parks, playgrounds and birthday parties<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/hh5b7zltITldH_2CNsaDyC_Or4g=\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)\/mom-latex-allergy-19-032026-8b6feea836b34797835cd0e002919a64.jpg\" alt=\"Rory and Sadie Richardson with their son, LennyCredit: Kennedy News and Media\" title=\"30-YEAR-OLD SADIE RICHARDSON, 31-YEAR-OLD RORY RICHARDSON AND SEVEN-YEAR-OLD LENNY RICHARDSON\" \/><figcaption><i>Rory and Sadie Richardson with their son, Lenny<br \/>Credit: Kennedy News and Media<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Sadie Richardson has lived with a severe latex allergy since she was 18 months old<\/li>\n<li>Her allergy has caused life-threatening reactions that required being rushed to the emergency room<\/li>\n<li>Due to potential latex exposure, only her partner can take their 7-year-old son to playgrounds and birthday parties<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A U.K. mom is sharing how she navigates life with a <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/teen-says-mom-im-sorry-i-love-you-before-she-died-from-allergic-reaction-restaurant-11789950\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">serious allergy<\/a> to latex, which means balloons, playgrounds and parks can lead to a trip to the <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/mans-lips-started-swelling-up-realized-allergic-totally-normal-ingredient-11826826\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"2\">emergency room<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If I were to go to the park it could literally kill me,&#8221; Sadie Richardson, 30, tells Kennedy News and Media about her allergy. Latex and rubber are often used under playground equipment to prevent injuries \u2014 and sometimes in the equipment itself.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/yIsUw6_sLJdRs2vbmVgvEbCQqFc=\/fit-in\/1280x960\/mom-latex-allergy-8-032026-f87f70b019ff4086bbb5240049bf7d18.jpg\" alt=\"From left: Rory, Lenny, and Sadie RichardsonCredit: Kennedy News and Media\" title=\"30-YEAR-OLD SADIE RICHARDSON, 31-YEAR-OLD RORY RICHARDSON AND SEVEN-YEAR-OLD LENNY RICHARDSON\" \/><figcaption><i>From left: Rory, Lenny, and Sadie Richardson<br \/>Credit: Kennedy News and Media<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Richardson, who lives in the English borough of Reading, was diagnosed with the allergy at 18 months old. &#8220;I used to think my mum was really mean when I was little because I was like, &#8216;Why aren&#8217;t you letting me do this stuff other kids can.&#8217; Now I&#8217;m a parent myself and I can&#8217;t take [my son] to parks, and parties are really difficult to navigate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She shares a 7-year-old, Lenny, with her partner, Rory, 31. For the most part, he handles birthday parties and playground outings. &#8220;I do feel like a bit of a burden to my other half because no one really enjoys a child&#8217;s party,&#8221; says Richardson. &#8220;He&#8217;s willing to take him but I do feel a bit bad that it all falls on him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Since Lenny was born, Richardson has had two severe reactions that required her to use an <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/health\/how-epipen-work-sometimes-fail\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\">EpiPen<\/a> and rush to the hospital. In 2019, she accidentally touched a door mat while shopping, and in 2021, she picked up her son after he fell in the park.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When I had my allergic reaction from the doormat my son was seven months old and I was just crying like &#8216;My son&#8217;s not going to have a mum.&#8217; I was just devastated. That&#8217;s what&#8217;s scary now,&#8221; she said. Although she tries to avoid going to playgrounds, she explained that when her son fell, &#8220;I just instinctively grabbed him off of my partner and because he&#8217;d fallen onto the rubber floor I had a reaction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/FKuTwH4Of7sdQrLQSHQ8vQGfQ7g=\/fit-in\/640x480\/mom-latex-allergy-14-032026-ae2cffaa709b49b9a550475d035b570d.jpg\" alt=\"From left: Lenny and Rory RichardsonCredit: Kennedy News and Media\" title=\"31-YEAR-OLD RORY RICHARDSON AND SEVEN-YEAR-OLD LENNY RICHARDSON PLAYING IN THE PARK)\" \/><figcaption><i>From left: Lenny and Rory Richardson<br \/>Credit: Kennedy News and Media<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.dotdashmeredith.com\/people-news-inline\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>PEOPLE&#8217;s free daily newsletter<\/strong><\/a><strong>\u00a0to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Richardson shares that her allergy has caused &#8220;a lot of anxiety since becoming a mum. I like to go everywhere with my other half because I feel safer if I were to have a reaction, especially if we&#8217;ve got our son there as well. One of my biggest fears is that I have a reaction in a public place and I have to put my trust into a stranger while I&#8217;m being seen to.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s more since becoming a parent and knowing I have somebody that depends on me [that] has triggered my anxiety with it more,&#8221; she explained. Still, despite her fears, Richardson says she&#8217;s learning to speak up more about her allergy, especially since, at times, it puts her in &#8220;embarrassing&#8221; situations: &#8220;You&#8217;re trying to run away from a child that&#8217;s coming near you without looking too silly because you&#8217;re trying to avoid a balloon.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/xTMXpPzyHRi7l20Dl5rxHkzVK-w=\/fit-in\/640x480\/mom-latex-allergy-1-032026-e59f6b1857d541a293fbb3f71ee2e086.jpg\" alt=\"Rory and Sadie Richardson with their son LennyCredit: Kennedy News and Media\" title=\"30-YEAR-OLD SADIE RICHARDSON, 31-YEAR-OLD RORY RICHARDSON AND SEVEN-YEAR-OLD LENNY RICHARDSON\" \/><figcaption><i>Rory and Sadie Richardson with their son Lenny<br \/>Credit: Kennedy News and Media<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;You can be in situations where kids do have balloons and adults&#8217; first thought isn&#8217;t &#8216;Is somebody allergic to that,&#8217; &#8221; she said. &#8220;I spent a lot of my life finding my allergy quite embarrassing and I didn&#8217;t want to disclose it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But as she&#8217;s learned, &#8220;a little bit of embarrassment&#8217;s more important than potentially getting yourself into a fatal situation. Choose yourself over being embarrassed.&#8221;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Due to Richardson&#8217;s allergy, only her partner can take their 7-year-old son to parks, playgrounds and birthday parties Rory and Sadie Richardson with their son, LennyCredit: Kennedy News and Media NEED TO KNOW Sadie Richardson has lived with a severe latex allergy since she was 18 months old Her allergy has caused life-threatening reactions that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything-else"],"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Everything Else","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/category\/everything-else\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}