Georgia Mom Dead After Reportedly Stepping on Fire Ant Nest in Garden
Cathy Weed, 43, revealed she was "highly allergic" to fire ants in a 2018 Facebook post
The friends and family of a 43-year-old mom are mourning after they believe she died from an allergic reaction to fire ants.
Cathy Weed died Saturday after relatives believe she stood on a nest of fire ants at her home in Lawrenceville, Georgia, reported WSAZ.
The mom-of-one had a history of reactions to fire ant bites and in 2018 posted on Facebook that she was "highly allergic" to the insects.
“I carry an epipen with me everywhere I go," she wrote. "Over the last 3 years, I have had to use an epipen 6 times. The 6th time being this Saturday night. Unfortunately, I made the very bad mistake of not keeping up with refills from my doctor, and the epipen I used on Saturday night was expired by about a year.”
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"This epipen did not work, and my very sweet friends had to rush me to the ER to be treated,” she continued. “I was covered head to toe in hives, vomiting, full on panic attack, I felt my ear canals and throat swelling in a matter of minutes from the bite."
"Having an allergy like this is no joke. It is scary. It is life threatening," she continued. "With each bite I get, if I don't have an epipen near by the reaction gets worse."
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Weed’s son — who is a sophomore — is now being supported by the Mountain View High School baseball team, reported WSB-TV.
“The first inclination was, ‘What can we do to help?’” baseball coach Jason Johnson told the outlet. “They’ve done so much for other people, they’ve treated other people the right way. What can we do to help them and to take care of them?”
“We won’t ever let him forget her,” added friend Zuhera Waite to the outlet. “Cathy always had a smile on her face. She was always just so cheerful, always cheering every boy on the team, not just her son.”
There was a moment of silence on the baseball diamond as the team honored her memory on Sunday, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
A woman spoke up during the silence, saying, "As we all know there are moments in life that are bigger than baseball.”
"We've got his back and we will be supporting him as he needs," Kitt Miller, a family friend, said per the outlet. "The Mountain View community is here to rally around the family.”
Miller added that the family wants to use Weed's death as a teaching moment for others by highlighting the "importance of having your EpiPen on you at all times, making sure your family knows where your EpiPen is, taking those preventative measures. So that you know, hopefully, something like this can be prevented.”
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Chad Johnson, a coroner’s office investigator, told USA Today that the office carried out an autopsy on Monday. He added that the official cause of death has yet to be determined.
According to WSB-TV, Weed’s family has received more than $8,000 from the Mountain View community since her death. The community has also started a Meal Train fundraiser to support her family.
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