An eight-year-old boy has died of a severe allergic reaction after his mother alleges he was given the wrong treat at a Dairy Queen in Kingston.
Julia Gartland told Global News in a written statement that she took her kids to Dairy Queen on Monday night for a treat.
She said she ordered her son Liam a vegan dilly bar because he has anaphylactic reactions to dairy, eggs and peanuts.
The vegan dilly bar is “gluten-free, dairy-free and plant-based,” according to Dairy Queen’s website.
Gartland said when the worker handed her the treat, they told her, “Here is your vegan dilly bar.”
“I didn’t think to check, I just handed it to him,” Gartland said. “About five minutes later, he’s telling me he thinks it’s dairy, and we look at the package and it was.”
Gartland said she drove as fast as she could to grab an EpiPen and called 911.
“They got there but he was already struggling to breathe,” she recalled. “By the time we got to the Kingston Centre, he flatlined.”
A second ambulance attended the scene and continued compressions, but Gartland said her son was in cardiac arrest for 55 minutes, causing severe brain damage.
Liam made it to CHEO, but had a hole in his lung. When he arrived, Gartland was also told her son had COVID-19, which was putting additional strain on his lungs.
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“His lungs were so inflamed from COVID and asthma that they just couldn’t handle it,” Gartland said.
After 48 hours with no brain activity, Gartland had to say goodbye.
Gartland said she and Liam’s father decided to donate Liam’s organs to continue helping others. According to a GoFundMe page set up for the family, helping was one of Liam’s favourite things to do.
“This decision feels so deeply aligned with who Liam was,” Gartland said on the page. “He had the kindest heart and always wanted to help others.”
Gartland said doctors initially told her Liam’s heart wasn’t strong enough to donate, but in the operating room, it started to beat, and ended up being donated to a three-year-old girl.
“While our hearts are shattered, there is comfort in knowing that Liam’s love, kindness, and generosity will continue on through these children,” Gartland said in the GoFundMe. “His legacy will live on not only in our memories, but in the lives he is helping save. We are so proud of our boy.”
Gartland said the coroner told her Liam had an anaphylactic reaction.
Dairy Queen did not directly answer any of Global News’ questions seeking confirmation that the incident occurred or queries about the company’s standards and procedures related to food allergies.
In a statement, a Dairy Queen spokesperson said “our hearts are with the family and loved ones during this difficult time,” adding the company is in contact with the store operator who is co-operating with authorities as they complete their investigation.
“Out of respect for the family and the process, we won’t have further comment at this time,” they said.
The Office of the Coroner confirmed to Global News that an investigation is underway.
This story is so confusing it’s just making the mother come across as a terrible person so that’s all I can really assume based on the article she’s just awful and doesn’t deserve children it seems. Seriously messed up. Checking a package and swapping a treat would of saved your kids life, is it ur fault, not necessarily, but you could of done more to prevent it.
Taking a kid with severe dairy and peanut allergies to Dairy Queen is a strange choice. Going there without an EpiPen is even stranger.
The parents are too stupid to live.
Was the worker who handed the bar someone who could speak and understand English?
I love (sarcasm) seeing comments from people who know nothing about allergies. My kiddo is 19 now and as parents we rely on having to trust what we are given. Over the last 2 decades we were given food with an allergen and told it was safe too many times to count. DQ is 100% responsible for not training their staff on the consequences of such an error, though it’s unlikely they’ll end up being held liable. I understand the pressure to try to give your child a somewhat normal life while balancing safety. Should they have had an epi pen on them before ordering a treat from a place that has DAIRY in their name? Yes, but I also get it. It’s easy to get complacent when you haven’t had to use one in years (maybe never). Living with allergies is deceptively normal, until it isn’t. She’s living my worst nightmare and I hope she will have access to a good therapist to help her process the guilt and the “what ifs”. Sending my deepest condolences.
It is a very sad and tragic story, but no way that DQ or their (likely) 17 year old employee should be held responsible or somehow charged, No way. Yes, they may have said it was a “vegan dilly bar”, but it’s up to the parent to verify this and be responsible, especially when you’re taking your kid into the outlet with the real possibility of cross-contamination, and a (likely) teenager serving you…
in the 60s and 70 as kids we ate dirt, and survived , this new generation get sick from Dairy queen
Don’t enter an ice cream store if your child will die by eating it. Also, carry an EpiPen. Also, check products before eating them if you must go to an ice cream store.
Who in their right mind takes a child that allergic into a DQ. Me thinks the mother doth protest to much. Suspect she is trying to avoid child endangerment charges.
I prepone the needful vegan treat sir
This can’t be real. Asthma? COVID? Deathly allergies? No EpiPen? No checking the labels? No thought of cross contamination? Who does this? Who takes pictures of their dying kid? Either the story is fake or this family killed their boy for a Go Fund Me.
Charge the mother. Somebody this stupid cannot be real, and if they are, then they are a menace to society. That poor kid.
Taking your child to a place you know serves something you know you child is deathly allergic to without checking to see if what you ordered is what you got seems negligent to me. Not having an epipen with is severely negligent. Parent needs to be held accountable for their absolute stupidity.
So tragic and preventable. RIP, young camper.
So sad, so unnecessary. As an anaphylactic person the first rule is having an EpiPen (preferably two) with you ALWAYS.
Parents are idiots
Why did they give a Covid infected heart to a three year old girl who will be taking immunosuppressants? Don’t they want her to make it to four years old?
Very sad this child died because they
A) can’t read packaging.
B) Pack an Epipen to a place at sells everything the child is deathly allergic to.
C) Even go to a place that sells everything the child is deathly allergic to.
The kid could of had a reaction with cross contamination. Ppl are so dumb in this world.
Very sad, poor kid and family
Any guesses as to the native language of the dairy queen worker? Id be willing to bet my life it isn’t English…
If your kid is allergic to dairy and you take them to “Dairy” queen and then entrusting teenaged workers with his life, who does that.
I hope she gave the wrapper to the police for their investigation. That the employee said “here’s your vegan dilly bar” suggests the switch may have been intentional / malicious. I’m sure the packaging makes it very clear. If it was just an error, that’s fine, but if there was intent, then that’s at least criminal negligence causing death.
Anon, the employee’s actions didn’t kill the child. The negligent mother, who brings her severely allergic child to a place specializing in all he’s allergic to, then doesn’t even double-check the packaging, who brought him there without an Epi pen….she might be a little more culpable.
What kind of a sick parent would take their kid to a restaurant that SPECIALIZES IN PRODUCTS THEY ARE ALLERGIC TO? Seems deliberate.
No link to gofundme?
Child with this type of allergy deserves a parent who would never bring them to such a place without an EpiPen and who would check the label before they even handed it to their child. Now she’s going to ride the sympathy on this for the rest of her life. Why would she need money for her kid dying under her watch from something completely preventable?
The better question is what’s wrong with the people in these comments? A child had died and a family is grieving. Some minimum wage worker has to live with the fact their actions killed someone. What is wrong with people so cruel?
I’m sorry but you have a severely dairy-allergic kid and you decide to take them into DAIRY Queen?
Wuhan flu strikes again??? Remember it was the flu then they changed it to covid 19 to scare everyone. Forced fake injections on us all. Lied and killed innocents to make a dollar.
No company takes these things seriously. I am a Type 1 diabetic and numerous times Tim Hortons has given me sugar in my coffee in
I wonder if the worker was Indian.
Rest In God’s Arms Beautiful Liam Angel. My Condolences to Liam’s Family and Friends. :(
wow .. when i was a kid we ate dirt, sent out side .what happened to kids now
Arrest the parents.
Your child is allergic to DAIRY AND PEANUTS, and you go to Dairy Queen!?
the thing is there is no dairy no peanuts in any of their bars. the food is fake. that’s why you need to carry around a bottle of benadryl. you’re all eating fake food and everybody knows it. he won’t be donating that heart either. sorry what happened to her son but the food is fake. it’s probalbly happened to a lot of people. i got allergic reactions off the keg and that’s expensive but fake steak and lobster. everybody knows this just tries to lie to make thdmself feel better. i don’t. i’m constantly aware the food is harmful. always. i think a lot of people can agree dairy queen sells fake ice cream.
Read the story Jack.
She said he was struggling to breathe after receiving the treat and the Coroner said he had an anaphylaxis reaction.
Truth, I caught a viral infection last year and could not breathe SO why would a mother take a son out when he could hardly breathe because his lungs were so badly damaged from covid and she did not realize it? If you children is struggling to breathe why would not take him to hospital emergency instead BEFORE DAIRY QUEEN? Something is wrong with this mother.
He suffered from a hole in his lung from Covid or was it the anaphylaxis reaction?