Award winners: Congratulations to the 2024 Sabrina Shannon Memorial Award recipients

Meet Vanessa Gilmore

Vanessa is a 17-year-old with allergies to tree nuts and fish. She’ll be entering her first year at The University of British Columbia to study science with the goal of pursuing a career in the medical field, as she has a great interest in helping people. 

As someone who is dedicated to community service and volunteering, Vanessa held a bottle drive and leveraged the opportunity to educate others about food allergy. She shared the event on social media and engaged the yoga studio where she works. With this event, she informed others about the seriousness of food allergy by emphasizing the necessary precautions taken daily to avoid allergen exposure, and by teaching people how to use an epinephrine auto-injector, like an EpiPen^®, in an emergency.

Additionally, Vanessa held an allergy-friendly bake sale at her high school to increase food allergy awareness. She created posters and made announcements about the sale, and she and a group of fellow students sold a variety of treats during the lunch hour. Through this event, she was able to promote awareness among her peers and teachers. She was pleased that the sale was accessible, inclusive, and provided a sense of comfort for those with allergies.

With the bottle drive and the bake sale, she also fundraised for our organization in addition to creating awareness of the condition. She chose Food Allergy Canada as her charity of choice because of the support the organization provides for her and her family through our website, webinars, and other programs, and because the need to educate on the condition is ongoing as not everyone understands food allergy.

Vanessa was also the president of her high school’s First Responders team, and she completed extensive first aid training to acquire this position. In this role, she gave a presentation about anaphylaxis where she explained how to identify an allergic reaction and how to administer an EpiPen. She also emphasized ways to minimize risks on a daily basis and recounted her personal experiences with food allergy. The opportunity was important to her as she was able to share some of her acquired knowledge and experience with her peers.

While at school, she worked to help make it more allergy aware so that students with food allergy are protected from reactions and others understand what they can do to support them. For example, she worked with the administration to make EpiPens more accessible in emergency situations, such as having students’ backup devices in unlocked cabinets in the first aid room.

Vanessa feels it’s important to develop a balance between vigilance and preparedness when managing food allergy. In support of herself and others, she takes the opportunity to mention the condition and generate awareness whenever she can.

We congratulate Vanessa as a well-deserving recipient of this year’s award and look forward to her continued interest in raising food allergy awareness.

Meet Sienna Campbell-Appiah

Sienna is a 17-year-old with allergies to peanut, tree nuts, and fish. She’ll be entering her first year at Western University to study Criminology and Political Science. She strongly believes in raising awareness and educating others about food allergy on a local level, and has done so in several ways. 

She has raised awareness in her community by teaching others about the importance of knowing how to use an epinephrine auto-injector. Sienna recalled experiencing an anaphylactic reaction in seventh grade, and having a staff member admit that they did not know how to use the auto-injector. Since that time, she has made it a point to ensure that the people around her know where to find her device and how to use it.

Sienna has also promoted awareness through social media through infographics and public service announcements (PSAs) she created on different allergy-based topics, including how to identify anaphylaxis in others and what the common allergens are. Her goal is to reach her peers in a way that’s understandable and relatable.

She took the opportunity to create awareness on food allergy and anaphylaxis in her high school philosophy class, where she had to create her own school based on the theory of functionalism (the idea that everything in society has a function). In doing so, she had to explain some of the programs she would implement in her school, and explain the function it would have within our society. As part of this, she implemented a mandatory allergy awareness course. She explained how she would run the course, which included EpiPen^® training, and stories of those impacted by food allergy, such as Sabrina Shannon. Through this project, she felt she was able to give her classmates a deeper understanding of living with food allergy and being at risk of anaphylaxis. 

In Sienna’s view, educating the people in your community about food allergy, and raising awareness about the condition can make a huge difference. She plans to continue her efforts, and encourages others to do the same!

We congratulate Sienna on her efforts to raise awareness and educate others, and we are proud to name her as a recipient of this year’s award.