When teacher Elaine Fraser collapsed at home after drinking ginger beer, she had no idea she was allergic.

“It grew incredibly fast,” recalls Elaine. “My chest had become concave trying to draw breath.”

The 53-year-old started recognizing the symptoms of anaphylactic shock after staff at her school were trained to recognize them and use adrenaline pens in emergencies.

“I knew my time was running out, and it was a cold, clear feeling that I needed to make a really good call,” says Elaine.

She called the school’s caretaker, Jason Jaeckel, who lives just two minutes away from her house.

“You could tell by his voice it was a life-threatening situation,” recalls Jason. “My first thought was to get an (adrenaline pen) kit from the school office and get there as quickly as possible.”

Jason arrived at Elaine’s house and gave her an EpiPen, as she attended York House School in Hampstead.

“It was just a lightbulb moment,” he says. “Penn went in and I saw the light come back in his eyes. His breathing stopped, his eyes came back, he started talking. I just felt immediate relief.”

Allen’s life was saved due to a change in the law in 2017, which allowed schools in the UK to stock and administer adrenaline pens.

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This followed the death of 13-year-old Karanbir Cheema, who died when another student threw a piece of cheese at him, causing him to have a dairy allergy. His own EpiPen was out of date – and not working when it was administered.

But the school EpiPen scheme is optional and unfunded, and it is estimated that only half of schools have signed up.

Some MPs have called for the scheme to be made mandatory and many campaigners and practitioners want it extended beyond schools, perhaps to restaurants and other public places.

The adrenaline pen that saved Allen’s life was supplied by Jack Marks’ firm Kit Medical, which supplies adrenaline to about 500 schools.

They told us that since its launch in 2023, the company’s pen has been used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions seven times. Jack says he cries whenever he is told this has happened. And his company’s ambitions go far beyond schools.

“Our goal is to be the neighbor to every defibrillator,” says Jack. “We want adrenaline pens and training in every public place.”

Nassar Ahmed died in 2016 after having an allergic reaction at his school dinner. At the request of the 14-year-old, her pediatrician and the coroner asked if adrenaline could be available in public places in the same way as defibrillators.

The Chief Medical Officer wrote to the coroner saying that there were serious clinical and practical concerns about the adrenaline pen being administered by an untrained member of the public in the same way as a defibrillator.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency told the BBC this could only happen with a further change in the law. A similar law is in place in Ireland which allows only trained individuals to administer adrenaline in an emergency.

Nassar’s pediatrician, Dr. Chinedu Nwokoro, acknowledges there are hurdles to bringing EpiPens to more places.

“Unlike a defibrillator, it is a drug,” says Dr Nwokoro. “This is something that may end, and the question is who bears the responsibility to replace it and who pays for it.”

But he still believes that the law should be changed.

He says, “What we’re seeing is a continuing trend of deaths from anaphylaxis – or serious accidents – that could be reduced by changes like this in law and policy.” “If it has been implemented safely in schools, why not elsewhere?”

In Ireland, the law changed in exactly this way after the death of 14-year-old Emma Sloane. She had a reaction to Chinese food and died on the road after a pharmacist said he was unable to give her a life-saving adrenaline pen without her prescription.

Under current legislation, Irish pharmacies and other organizations or businesses can keep and administer the medicine if they have the correct training and manage the medicine appropriately. So far, only a few organizations have signed up, including a group of beekeepers, an electrical firm, a community football club and several community centers and colleges.

James Kelleher of Cork Beekeepers told the BBC that they have signed up to protect visitors who may have adverse reactions to bee stings. When asked why so few organizations followed suit, he said he thought people were not aware of the scheme.

The UK has one of the highest prevalence of allergies in the world and the outline for the UK’s first national strategy for allergies is currently being considered by clinicians and advocates on the National Allergy Strategy Group.

They will publish the strategy in October 2025 in the hope of shaping public policy in the region.

Professor Adam Fox, chair of the National Strategy for Allergy, told the BBC that the prevalence of food allergies is increasing, leading to an increase in the number of serious reactions.

“After home, the most common places for reactions are schools, followed by restaurants,” explains Professor Fox. He said policymakers need to consider whether better access to adrenaline pens could help keep allergy sufferers safe.

Doctors still haven’t been able to figure out which ingredient in ginger beer caused Elaine’s allergy. But Professor Fox says that although it is possible to discover or develop allergies later in life, this is “uncommon and not something to be unduly concerned about”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told the BBC that it was “working closely with the NHS, voluntary organizations and patient representative groups to consider how allergy care and support can be improved “.