“It’s really the non-food allergy community that I really want to get the message across to because it’s really easy to say, well this doesn’t affect me, I don’t have food allergies, I don’t need to pay attention to it. Well, it isn’t necessarily about you, might be the people around you.” – Joey Salmingo
Joey Salmingo lives in Markham, Ontario, with his family. He was the older brother of Joanna Salmingo. She was only 30-years-old when she died from a nut allergy. Salmingo said she was always allergic to peanuts, all tree nuts and seafood. However, Joanna was always very cautious, and took good care of herself to avoid her allergy. Unfortunately, she ate a dessert that contained cashew nuts. She didn’t realize because she ate the dessert before, but this time it was purchased at a different place. Although there was a sign that indicated “may contain nuts”, Joey says it wasn’t quite visible at the time.
After the death of his younger sister Joanna, it prompted him and his parents to initiate FATE, which stands for Food Allergy Training and Education. They decided to create a non-profit organization in order to help spread awareness about the severity of food allergies. Joey conducts forums at schools, restaurants, events, corporations, etc. He hopes to impact people on his story of what him and his family went through in hopes to educate people how to be prepared in case of an emergency and how to avoid putting yourself or someone else with a food allergy at risk.
“We have made it our jobs to talk about how my sister died. As shocking as that sounds, it’s what really impacts people the most is the story of what happen to my sister.”
– Joey Salmingo
Courtesy of Joey Salmingo
For more information on Salmingo’s forums, the link directs you to FATE’s website https://www.fateinitiative.com/forums .
Salmingo highly encourages people to always check for food allergy warning labels, read every ingredient and ask more questions. Whether it’s yourself or someone that you know who has a food allergy, take it seriously and make the necessary extra steps to keep yourself or someone else safe.
” It’s how you treat that energy, I’m choosing to use it as positive energy, I could have used it as negative. It’s very easy to be consumed by grief. It’s just we’re using it as positive for the benefit of other people.”
– Joey Salmingo
Salmingo continues to educate people about the severity of food allergies through television, travelling to present live forums and social media. Platforms that could help others better understand how to handle someone dealing with a food allergy and ultimately how to avoid tragedy from happening to someone else’s family too.
Joey Salmingo’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joeysalmingo/
FATE Initiative’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fateinitiative/
March 10th, 1988 – August 24th, 2018
Written by: Hope Dos Santos
Food Allergies 