The tragic story of Hannah Glass, a bright and compassionate freshman at Maranatha Baptist University, has left a community in Wisconsin mourning her heartbreaking loss. Hannah, who had just celebrated her 19th birthday two days before, suffered an unexpected and fatal allergic reaction to a brownie given to her by a friend. Her parents now find themselves grappling with the unthinkable—picking up her cremated remains mere days after she ate the sweet treat that took her life.
Hannah had always been diligent about managing her known peanut allergy. However, the brownie she received reportedly contained roasted peanut flour, an ingredient used as a gluten-free alternative, unbeknownst to her. On November 5, the young woman took two bites of the brownie and immediately sensed something was wrong. “The second bite, she knew something was wrong,” Hannah’s father, David Glass, told WISN.
The brownie, given to her by a friend from a women’s group on campus, was intended to accommodate students with gluten allergies but did not consider those with severe peanut allergies. “We believe because this product contained roasted peanut flour, separate from oily peanut butter, that masked this,” David explained. Realizing the severity of the situation, Hannah’s parents, David and Janean, raced about 45 minutes from their home in Milton, Wisconsin, to her school residence in Watertown.
Hannah’s reaction was immediate and aggressive. She experienced vomiting, welled up with hives, and initially found some relief with Benadryl. However, when she crawled up to her top bunk to rest, her condition worsened dramatically. “When Hannah rolled on her side, the anaphylaxis reaction that we had not seen before hit incredibly hard. This caused her to gasp for breath, leading to the collapsing of the lung, further exacerbating the situation,” her grieving father wrote in a Facebook post on November 11.
In a desperate attempt to save his daughter, David picked Hannah up and carried her outside to wait for the ambulance. “She was completely unresponsive, and I was incredibly helpless,” he penned. Paramedics arrived and worked tirelessly to revive her, but her heart had stopped for four minutes. Hannah was rushed to Watertown Hospital before being transferred to Froedtert Hospital, where she was placed on a ventilator.
Despite the tireless efforts of medical professionals, Hannah’s condition was dire. Her brain had sustained critical damage due to several seizures, leading to severe brain swelling. “The majority of her brain was unmistakably, seriously, critically, and without the life-sustaining measures in place, TERMINALLY damaged,” David wrote on Facebook. The family was faced with the devastating reality that there was no hope of recovery.
Before Hannah's final goodbye on November 10, 2024, she was honored with a traditional “Honor Walk,” a touching tribute as she was taken to the operating room for organ donation. About 300 people lined the walls of the hallway, her family by her side until their “final goodbye.” “It seemed like an endless walk, yet it was also going too quickly,” David shared.
On November 22, 2024, David shared a poignant message on Facebook about picking up Hannah’s cremated remains. “It was and is a strange mix of emotions. There is still a strong sense of disbelief,” he wrote. “Having now, this physical, tangible, memorial of her physical life and body is nice, in one sense, because we now have something to see and to ‘hold on to,’ but it is also very sad because this is certainly not the same relationship that we had before. But, then again, it is good to have her home.”
Hannah’s organs have already saved four people who desperately needed lifesaving transplants, ensuring that her legacy lives on through the lives she saved. Her parents are now urging others with food allergies to “Always be aware. Make sure your EpiPens are up to date,” David advised.
Hannah Glass’s story is a poignant reminder of the fragility of life and the critical importance of food allergy awareness. Her memory lives on not only through the lives she saved but also in the hearts of those who knew and loved her.
