Breaking news coverage including an interview with the key subjects for Allergic Living.
When Mandy Cortes got the call on January 19, 2016 that her son, Anthony Ruelas, was being suspended for walking out of class, she was disappointed – it wasn’t the first time, and he knew better. But when she arrived at her son’s Killeen, Texas middle school, Anthony looked at her and said, “Mom, I thought she was going to die.”
The boy, 15, was sitting in class when he noticed that his friend, Tishica Fisher “was breathing a little hard.” She was wheezing and clutching her chest, Anthony told Allergic Living, but the teacher instructed everyone to stay in their seats while she emailed the school nurse.
Tishica, also 15, has had asthma since she was three months old and carries an inhaler, local news outlet KCEN reported. That day, according to the teacher’s handwritten account of the incident, Tishica said she was having an asthma attack, something she had experienced at school before.
Anthony, who has two cousins with asthma, one of whom ended up in a coma because of an attack, waited for about three minutes. But when Tishica fell out of her chair, he sprang into action – picking up the ailing student and carrying her to the nurse’s office. According to the teacher’s report of the incident, Anthony said: “F— that, we ain’t got time to wait for no email from the nurse.”
Ishani Nath 