A moment of celebration, now a bittersweet memory for the family of Timmy Howard.
“A positive, upbeat, kind, quiet soul,” said Patty Howard, Timmy’s mother describing him.
Howard graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in communication studies and had a summer internship lined up.
“He was on the cusp of living his life,” said Patty.
Days later, things took a tragic turn after a late night snack at home triggered his peanut allergy.
“He came in and woke us up, saying that he couldn’t breathe,” said Tim Howard, Timmy’s father. “And at that point, it unfolded very quickly.”
They did everything right, administering his EpiPen, calling 9-1-1, but it was too late.
“It kills people,” said Julia Howard, Timmy’s sister. “It killed my brother.”
Now, left with many unanswered questions, the Howard family is making it their mission to use his death for good.
“We don’t know how many times he’s had it or not had it,” said Patty. “But we just want to bring awareness to make sure everyone reads labels and really looks at the ingredients.”
“And for companies to realize that putting ‘May contain’ sometimes, knowing what’s in your food and the people that are eating it, consumers, knowing what’s on the label. I think is really important,” said Julia.
“Maybe we can help out another family so they don’t have to go through what we just went through, hell and back,” said Patty.
Timmy was an organ donor, and he will be helping to save four lives.
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