‘He’s gone just like that:’ Man dies after walnut shells used at work site
EDMONTON — Justin Mathews had a lifelong nut allergy and was always careful, so his family is stunned that he died after visiting a work site where walnut shells were used to blast paint off walls.
The 33-year-old was doing air quality tests at the old Rossdale fire station in Edmonton on Oct. 2, when he started having trouble breathing and went into anaphylactic shock. He suffered brain damage after going into cardiac arrest and was taken off life support five days later.
“This whole story’s just insane,” his sister, Joyce Mathews-Goossen, said Monday.
“My brother was there to check the air quality and the air was poisonous to him.”