WASHINGTON (WTVR) - The family of a 7-year-old Chesterfield student who died in January after suffering an allergic food reaction in January visited Congress.
Amarria Johnson's family was pushing for a new law Wednesday to get schools across the country to carry auto-epinephrine injectors in case students suffer a severe allergic reactions.
Amarria died after being exposed to a peanut at her Chesterfield school last year.
Governor Bob McDonnell signed into law legislation requiring every school in the Virginia to carry emergency epinephrine auto-injectors in April.
That legislation had been in the works since the Hopkins Elementary School student's death.
An investigation found that a classmate had given Amarria a peanut while the pair were on the playground. She then went into cardiac arrest at the school, and emergency crews were unable to resuscitate her.
Laura Pendleton, Amarria Johnson’s mother, said she asked had tried to give the school’s clinical aide an epinephrine auto-injector for emergencies, but was told to keep it at home.
