20-Year-Old Dies of Peanut Allergy - That He Didn't Know He Had

By Gwen Smith

20-Year-Old Dies of Peanut Allergy - That He Didn't Know He Had

There has been another food allergy tragedy. This time, neither the 20-year-old Wisconsin man nor his family even knew that he had a peanut allergy.

Allergic Living gets the story of Andrew Mueller's fatal allergic reaction from his parents Mark and Cristin Mueller.

Mark recalls spending the day of November 23 with Andrew, who lived at the family home in Wisconsin Rapids. Then his son went out for the evening; six friends in two vehicles. They were headed over to another friend's home. Andrew was driving one of his two beloved Ford Super Duty trucks, and with him were his girlfriend, best friend and the friend's girlfriend.

The group made a stop at Walmart, and Andrew bought a package of M&Ms. Back in the truck, he grabbed a handful and said, "these things taste terrible, what are they?" His girlfriend looked at the package and said they contained peanut butter. Mark says his son replied: "they're gross." The other young people ate some of his unwanted candy.

The Muellers both describe Andrew as extremely fussy about food. "Andrew was the world's pickiest eater," says his dad. Cristin tried for years to widen his diet. As a young adult, Andrew restricted his diet mainly to cheese pizza, chicken nuggets, grilled steak and French fries. He also liked candy - but had a strong aversion to peanut.

"Never in his life had he had peanut butter," says his dad. He recalls his son saying: "It looks gross, smells gross. There's no reason that anyone would eat that stuff."

On that tragic November evening, about 15 minutes after eating the peanut M&Ms, Andrew began feeling his mouth itch and tingle. He called Mark, mentioning the symptoms and asking: "Dad, am I allergic to peanut butter?" His father said he had no idea.

Andrew Mueller: Symptoms Escalated Fast

Andrew was only 15 minutes away and decided to come home. He was feeling unwell enough that he asked his friend to take over driving.

Andrew had asthma. Once home, he told his mom Cristin that he didn't feel right, as if an asthma attack was coming on. The young man had two puffs of his inhaler and two Benadryl* tablets, and Cristin decided to drive him to the emergency room. But sitting in the car in the driveway, Andrew's breathing became labored. So Cristin phoned 911 and was told: "Stay there, we'll send an ambulance."

Mark tracked the times: his son called to ask him the peanut allergy question at 9:14 p.m. At 9:36, Mark walked out to see why they were still in the driveway, and saw his son "having a real hard time breathing." At 9:42, the police squad car arrived. The officer asked a couple of questions, "and then Andrew passed out."

The officer and Mark lifted Andrew out of the car, and the officer performed CPR. For a few minutes, Andrew was breathing again. The ambulance arrived and the EMS administered epinephrine. Mark says his son was unconscious on the stretcher. He was in the ambulance at 10:07.

At the local hospital, Andrew was put on breathing apparatus, then airlifted south to a bigger hospital in Madison. There, the Muellers were told their son was put in a medically induced coma. The oxygen deprivation to Andrew's brain during anaphylaxis had been significant, the doctors said. He wouldn't make it. On November 25, Andrew - a popular young man with so much to look forward to - was taken off life support.

Parents Push for Epi Access

The Muellers, including Andrew's older sister, his many friends, and his work colleagues are devastated by his sudden death to a food allergy that he didn't know he had.

Cristin wants people to know "how quickly things can go downhill" in an allergic reaction. "There's so little time, you have to react so quickly."

Mark and Cristin are now on a mission to make epinephrine auto-injectors easily accessible.

"My push - and I've already started this push - is for epinephrine to be with every officer," says Mark. "If you're a commissioned police officer and you're trained in using it [an auto-injector], then you should be able to carry it on duty and off-duty. That puts epinephrine so many more places," he says.

In Andrew Mueller's case, his parents point out that the police car arrived about seven minutes before the ambulance. If the officer had had an epinephrine device, would that have mattered? Cristin says from what she's read, "that could have made a huge difference."

Coincidentally, the Muellers are starting to work with a Wisconsin family whom they didn't know before, who happen to share the same last name. But they share far more - another heartbreaking loss to anaphylaxis. Angel and George Mueller lost their son Dillon, 18, to a fatal allergic reaction to a bee sting in 2014.

The couple from Mishicot, WI, are the driving forces behind Dillon's Law. Approved in Wisconsin in 2017, it allows any individual in the state to be certified as trained on epinephrine use, so they can carry it and administer it in the case of a severe allergic reaction. It further protects Good Samaritans who use epinephrine against civil liability. Versions of the law have also been passed in Minnesota, Michigan and Indiana.

Lobby for a Federal Epi Law

"My husband and I will support Mark and Cristen Mueller in anything they want to do, so that no other family has to endure such a tragedy," Angel tells Allergic Living. Referencing their son's tragedy as well, she states: "This needs to stop!"

They support Mark's push for first responders to have epinephrine. "All first responders, including volunteers and sheriff's department officers and police department officers need to carry epinephrine," Angel declares.

In fact, she wants epinephrine auto-injectors or new needle-free alternatives (such as the neffy spray) widely available, across the U.S.

Dillon's parents are working with federal lawmakers and allergy advocacy groups in an effort to get a nationwide version of Dillon's Law. This bill would incentivize states to allow trained individuals to carry an epinephrine device and use it in an emergency. Like Wisconsin's law, it also calls for protection against liability.

Wisconsin Congressman Glenn Grothman and Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell introduced the bill in the summer of 2023. With a new session of Congress, it needs to be reintroduced. Grothman said he aims to have the bill ready to introduce by mid-January.

Angel Mueller hopes the allergy community will urge their members of Congress to rally behind it. This time, Dillon's parents will have a second Mueller family backing the push - Mark and Cristin strongly support the nationwide epinephrine law. "Why would you as a Good Samaritan not want to carry it?" says Mark.

When it comes to allowing police and firefighters to carry and administer epinephrine, New York state has been a leader with Gio's Law. Giovanni was also a teen who died of anaphylaxis due to his peanut allergy. (He'd inadvertently eaten some pretzels filled with peanut butter.) Georgina Cornago, Gio's mother, lobbied tenaciously for her state's law in her son's name.

Andrew Mueller's Peanut Aversion

Andrew's aversion to peanut was so strong that Mark Mueller is certain his son never would have intentionally purchased peanut M&Ms.

He often bought milk chocolate M&Ms, and his dad thinks Andrew picked up the wrong package. Milk chocolate M&Ms are usually in a brown package, but the M&M Minis that Andrew purchased were in a green and red holiday tube, and similar to the milk chocolate version's holiday packaging. The tube's front does say "peanut butter." But Andrew wasn't a regular label reader - as he didn't know he had a peanut allergy.

His mom Cristin further explains her son's food issues. "When he was little, he would eat fruits and vegetables. But he became really picky after a certain age," she says. "He also had a lot of texture issues. If he didn't like the look of a food, or the texture of it, he really didn't like it. He wouldn't try it. He would cry if you tried to make him eat something."

Cristin spoke to doctors about her son's eating. One told her it was proven that "if a kid has seen something on their plate 16 times, they're likely to eat it beyond that point." That wasn't happening with Andrew. A couple of doctors scolded her to press her child to eat better.

Andrew's mom did not feel comfortable with the "tough love" approach she was counseled to take. "At a certain point, it almost felt like child abuse to make a child eat something they adamantly didn't want to have."

Cristin got vegetables and fruits into Andrew as kid via gummy supplements. By his teens, Andrew would eat fast foods like pizza, chicken nuggets, plus steak or chicken from the grill. "But no sides," says Mark, like vegetables.

Passion for Trucks, Snowmobiles

Allergists have told Allergic Living that it's common for children with a peanut allergy to have an aversion to peanut taste or smell. As well, just in the past few years, studies are finding that some children with food allergies can be prone to food issues that lead to avoiding foods beyond those they are allergic to.

But with Andrew's situation, avoidance actually masked a severe allergy. He was diagnosed with asthma in kindergarten. At the age of 5, an asthma attack put him in the hospital. Allergy testing showed Andrew was allergic to dogs, and even more so to cats. "We did have allergy testing for him, but it wasn't food-related," Cristin says.

Despite his restricted diet, Andrew was active and strong. He raced BMX bikes for years and loved snowmobiling. He'd earned his commercial driver's license and enjoyed his work for a local excavation and trucking company. He was already learning skills as a bulldozer operator.

The company's owner mentioned what a quick learner Andrew was. He told his dad: "Andrew's like a sponge, you tell him something once, and he just gets it."

Andrew's big passion was his two Super Duty pickups. (His dad calls the red truck Andrew bought at 17, "his pride and joy".) He even had a popular TikTok account for truck aficionados.

The young man's obituary mentions that he was an organ donor. It says, "his generosity and selflessness will live on through the individuals whose lives he has helped save."

And now his parents, through their lobbying for epinephrine access, want to save others from the senseless tragedy of fatal anaphylaxis.

At Allergic Living, we will support the efforts of both Mueller families in their quest for far greater epinephrine access. We hope the community will rally behind them, too.

Related Reading:

Disney Influencer Dies of Severe Allergic Reaction

Food Allergy Families Struggle with 'When to Use' Epi

*Despite its wide use, allergists do not recommend using Benadryl as it will not stop anaphylaxis. Epinephrine is the first-line treatment for serious allergy symptoms.

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