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MINNEAPOLIS — For years, Josh Stillman watched as his family left for the Metrodome. He declined invitations to birthday parties at Minnesota Twins games. He diligently followed his team on television, wondering what it would be like to see a game in person.
The 12-year-old thought maybe he’d never know. His severe peanut allergy makes the Metrodome one of the most dangerous places he can visit. But on the drive to school one morning this spring, Josh heard something on the radio that had him screaming with excitement.
The Twins this season will host four peanut-free games, during which the Cambria skybox in right field will be peanut-free.
“He kept screaming, saying: ‘Call in, call in! Find out more details!’ ” said Josh’s mom, Mindy Stillman. “He was literally screaming. He didn’t want to get out of the car to go into school until I called.”
“I walked in to school, yelling, ‘I’m going to get to go to a Twins game!’ ” said Josh, who was diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy after having a reaction when he was 2 years old.
About 30,000 school-age children in Minnesota have food allergies, according to the Anaphylaxis and Food Allergy Association of Minnesota.
For kids such as Josh, that means carrying around EpiPens (an adrenaline-like shot that buys about 15 minutes of time to get to a hospital during an anaphylactic reaction), never eating birthday cake at parties and watching his favorite sport on TV.
Josh’s peanut allergy is so severe that he can have a reaction from inhaling peanut dust, which is kicked up all over the Metrodome as fans shell peanuts in the stands and the concourse. The peanut-free section gives fans with peanut allergies a chance, finally, to see a ballgame up close.
“It’s just a different experience to actually be there and see,” said Josh, who has been playing baseball since he was 5 and says his favorite Twin is Justin Morneau. “Rather than watching it on TV, to see what actually really happens, I think it will be really cool.“
Last year, the Twins hosted one peanut-free game and decided to expand that to four this season, the first of which was June 27 against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Twins will also host peanut-free games on July 31 (Kansas City), Aug. 20 (Seattle) and Sept. 17 (Texas).
The peanut-free games give children with peanut allergies a chance to see more than one game a summer, Twins vice president of marketing Patrick Klinger said via e-mail.
“I had a childhood friend whose mother had a peanut allergy and died after consuming a food product containing the nuts, so I knew exposure could be a matter of life or death,” Klinger said. “But it was only after conversations with the (AFAA) that I understood the number of people afflicted with the allergy, and since it’s important to the Twins that any person who wants to attend our games should have that opportunity, we decided to offer a peanut-free zone in our skybox.“
While avoiding the Metrodome almost exclusively, the Stillmans have learned where Josh is safe _ he regularly attends Gophers basketball games because Williams Arena doesn’t sell peanuts, and he has seen a couple of Vikings games thanks to his grandfather, who had tickets to a suite closed off from the Dome’s peanut-infested air.
In August, Josh, who plays shortstop, center field and pitcher for his baseball team (where the dugout is food-free), will see his first live professional baseball game.
He will be excited, no doubt, but his mom said she will still worry, because even though the skybox will be peanut-free, just crossing the concourse to get there proves risky.
“He still has to be careful,” Mindy Stillman said. “They’re doing the skybox, which is great, but he still has to walk through the concourse with people dropping peanuts all around.
“He’ll take a Zyrtec (allergy medication) before he goes, and he’ll just take off those shoes when he gets home. He’ll just be careful.“
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