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Girl with severe allergy helps change state law

Thanks to a 9-year-old who is allergic to peanuts, Florida students like her will be able to carry special devices at school.

TALLAHASSEE - Nine-year-old Kelsey Ryan is severely allergic to peanuts. If she were to eat one - or even something with peanut oil on it - "I would probably die," she says.

So everywhere she goes she carries an EpiPen, a needle that allows her to give herself a quick injection of epinephrine to reverse the swelling of an allergic reaction that would close her airway.

Kelsey keeps the device with her in the classroom. But in some Florida school districts, kids can't carry EpiPens; instead, the devices are usually kept in the office.

A new law pushed by Kelsey changes that. Soon, all Florida students who need EpiPens will get to carry them on campus.

"It makes me feel very good," Kelsey said before meeting with Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday.

Bush signed the bill, named the Kelsey Ryan Act, last month. It takes effect Jan. 1.

Kelsey, who will be a fourth-grader next year at Celebration K-8 School in the Orlando suburb of Celebration, said she was upset to learn that kids in some other schools might not be able to give themselves an injection in time.

With the help of her mother, Blair Ryan, a registered nurse, Kelsey began pushing for a change and made a trip to Tallahassee to lobby. School districts that don't let children carry EpiPens with them have generally worried about having needles in the classroom, said Brenda Olsen, the director of governmental affairs for the American Lung Association of Florida, which also pushed for the measure.

An EpiPen delivers the drug epinephrine to stop anaphylaxis shock, an allergic reaction that causes swelling that can shut off the airway and lower blood pressure.

About 20 other states let children carry epinephrine delivery devices with them in the classroom. Kelsey and her mom said their next goal is to talk to Congress about the other states that don't require schools to let kids carry EpiPens.

[Last modified June 21, 2005, 02:30:30]