New treatments can free kids from the deadly threat of peanut allergy

Anabelle Terry, a slender, self-possessed girl in her early teens, has heard the peanut butter story her entire life. At two and a half she ate nuts for the first time. Her mother, Victoria, had made a little treat: popcorn drizzled with melted caramel, chocolate and peanut butter. Anabelle gobbled it down. “And afterward, I felt really sick,” she says. A few minutes later she vomited on the kitchen floor.There was more trouble ahead. A visit to an allergist confirmed that Anabelle was severely allergic to the peanut butter in the dessert, as well as to most other nuts. It began a life upheaval familiar to families of kids with allergies: learning to decode labels, to carry an EpiPen, and to interrogate friends and their parents about the ingredients in a birthday cake.Every once in a while, there would be a slip-up. It might be a snack that someone hadn’t scrutinized or a food package that didn’t list all potential allergens. And every time, Anabelle’s reactions got worse. Although she was just a schoolkid, she had to stay alert. “Eating lunch, all my friends would have PB&Js. And I’d be like, I’m going to sit a little bit farther away,”