About Us
Reducing deaths from Anaphylaxis & Asthma and maintaining standards in Emergency Medicine and Prehospital Care
AMAX4 is an initiative by Dr. Ben and Tamara McKenzie dedicated to reducing and preventing unnecessary deaths related to anaphylaxis and asthma. The initiative was launched in 2022, following the tragic death of Ben and Tamara's son, Max, who died at the age of 15, from hypoxic brain injury sustained during food anaphylaxis related bronchospasm/asthma.
Ben is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne studying the topic of resuscitation algorithms in anaphylaxis and asthma. He is supported by and affiliated with the Australian National Allergy Centre of Excellence (NACE).
Up until Max's death, Ben has spent his entire consultant career working in mixed adult and paediatric emergency departments - mostly in regional centres where there is no sub-specialised hospital down the road.
Ben's goal is for the AMAX4 algorithm to highlight the standard of critical care when treating hypoxic anaphylaxis and asthma in order to prevent unnecessary deaths occurring in hospitals in Australia and around the world.
Max's Story
Max McKenzie was an otherwise healthy teenager, but died from hypoxic brain injury sustained during food anaphylaxis related bronchospasm/asthma. He was talented, happy and loved and his death was a tragedy causing unimaginable pain for his family and the broader community. He died in Victoria, Australia in 2021 after a brain injury sustained in a metropolitan, fully equipped hospital. Max entered health care with normal oxygen levels alert and he was able to ask for help in an articulate way. Inadequate emergency health care resulted in Max sustaining an unsurvivable brain injury. This site is dedicated to ensuring critical care clinicians, including paramedics, doctors and nurses, are equipped to maintain a specialist standard of care for emergency management of anaphylaxis and other causes of catastrophic hypoxic arrests.
Australia has the highest rates of documented food allergy and hospital anaphylaxis admissions in the developed world.
By reforming treatment and providing information, support and awareness, our vision and goal is to reduce deaths from anaphylaxis and asthma.
Thank you
Thank you to all of our incredibly kind colleagues and friends who have helped with advice, content feedback, simulation acting, simulation coordination, filming, design and spreading the word - we wouldn't be standing without you.
Special thanks to Reinier Krol from Luminosity Studios who was able to make us feel comfortable and cope with our chaotic approach. And to Leonie Gould for design help just through kindness.
Thank you to Western Health and their Simulation Centre and sim team for your professionalism and willingness to help save lives.
Thank you to Martin Bromiley for kind words and simple guidance that made the path forwards crystal clear.
But an even bigger thank you to clinicians all over the world who are dedicated to excellence in critical care. You are amazing people who are the last line of defence when everything else goes wrong. You make the world a better place.
Resource Videos
Our videos are aimed at informing and teaching best-practice techniques for critical care clinicians in Anaphylaxis and Asthma resuscitation.
