Latest news with #Aicha
The Irish Sun
05-08-2025
- Health
- The Irish Sun
Brit teen told mum ‘I'm sorry, goodbye' before collapsing in her arms during fatal allergic reaction on dream hols
A BRITISH teenager told her mum "I'm sorry" after collapsing in her arms from a severe allergic reaction on holiday. Lily King, 18, from Buckinghamshire, tragically died after eating a carrot in a meal to celebrate top grades in her first year at Exeter University while on holiday in Morocco. 7 Lily King died from fatal Anaphylaxsis shock on holiday Credit: JustGiving 7 Lily King with her mum Aicha, who were on holiday in Morocco when Lily died Credit: JustGiving 7 Lily was just 18 when she died Credit: gofundme The student was diagnosed with severe allergies to fish and seafood, nuts, sesame, milk and eggs when she was two-and-a-half – and her mum Aicha had packed a whole suitcase of safe supplies. While Lily's childhood had been dominated her allergies - along with eczema and asthma - she hadn't ever needed hospital treatment until five months prior to the holiday. She had bought a burger at a music festival in Exeter and suffered anaphylaxis – the most extreme allergic reaction, where rapid swelling in the throat and tongue cause breathing difficulties and sometimes cardiac arrest. Then, on the last night of their holiday last year, Lily discovered that she had received a first for her first-year exams and wanted to celebrate - so the pair decided to go out for a meal. read more in world news FIND MICHELE Cops probe 'sighting' of Brit who vanished from sunbed as search area expands It was somewhere they had eaten before, including for Lily's 18th, and they were confident that it would pass without hitch. Upon arrival, Aicha, who is Moroccan and speaks Arabic, gave staff repeated clear instructions about her daughter's allergies. Lily herself even said in Arabic: "I don't want to be killed," Aicha told the Mail. But when the food arrived, it came with vegetables and a sauce they hadn't asked for. Lily put a small piece of carrot into her mouth, saying: "Don't be silly mum, it's just a carrot," but her tongue instantly felt itchy. She took an antihistamine and went to the bathroom, then used her EpiPen and went outside for some air. Megan McKenna blasted the Prime Minister today for 'abandoning' a vow to create an 'allergies tsar' After just 15 minutes, Lily was struggling to breathe. She used her second EpiPen and Aicha called an ambulance. Now desperate, the mum ran back into the restaurant to grab her bag of money and passports but, agonisingly, the waiter wasted vital minutes by insisting she paid the bill. When she got outside again, Lily was gasping for air and slipping out of consciousness. According to the Daily Mail, she collapsed into her mum's arms and said: "You know Mum, I love you. I'm sorry. Goodbye." With the ambulance nowhere to be seen, Lily's cousins bundled her into their car and rushed to the hospital – but she stopped breathing on the way. 7 Lily wanted to go out for the meal after finding out she had earned a first in the first-year uni exams Credit: Facebook 7 Lily's family want to raise awareness about the dangers of travelling abroad with allergies Credit: gofundme 7 Lily was eating at Maya Restaurant and Lounge, Rabat, in Morocco when her throat began to itch Credit: instagram Medics performed CPR but refused to begin further treatment until Lily's mum had written a check - further stalling the process. The desperately ill teen was eventually put on life support - but with no brain activity doctors were forced to switch it off three days later. It was found that she had already suffered a heart attack and a catatonic fit, which rendered her brain dead, before being hooked up to the machine. Reflecting on the terrible ordeal, Aicha said: "Neither the waiter nor any of the doctors spoke English. "Without Arabic, it would have been impossible to make myself understood. "It is my mother tongue and yet I still couldn't get the care Lily needed." A JustGiving page set up to raise funds for Natasha Allergy Research Foundation has racked up nearly £9,000 in donations.
Scottish Sun
05-08-2025
- Health
- Scottish Sun
Brit teen told mum ‘I'm sorry, goodbye' before collapsing in her arms during fatal allergic reaction on dream hols
A BRITISH teenager told her mum "I'm sorry" after collapsing in her arms from a severe allergic reaction on holiday. Lily King, 18, from Buckinghamshire, tragically died after eating a carrot in a meal to celebrate top grades in her first year at Exeter University while on holiday in Morocco. Advertisement 7 Lily King died from fatal Anaphylaxsis shock on holiday Credit: JustGiving 7 Lily King with her mum Aicha, who were on holiday in Morocco when Lily died Credit: JustGiving 7 Lily was just 18 when she died Credit: gofundme The student was diagnosed with severe allergies to fish and seafood, nuts, sesame, milk and eggs when she was two-and-a-half – and her mum Aicha had packed a whole suitcase of safe supplies. While Lily's childhood had been dominated her allergies - along with eczema and asthma - she hadn't ever needed hospital treatment until five months prior to the holiday. She had bought a burger at a music festival in Exeter and suffered anaphylaxis – the most extreme allergic reaction, where rapid swelling in the throat and tongue cause breathing difficulties and sometimes cardiac arrest. Then, on the last night of their holiday last year, Lily discovered that she had received a first for her first-year exams and wanted to celebrate - so the pair decided to go out for a meal. Advertisement read more in world news FIND MICHELE Cops probe 'sighting' of Brit who vanished from sunbed as search area expands It was somewhere they had eaten before, including for Lily's 18th, and they were confident that it would pass without hitch. Upon arrival, Aicha, who is Moroccan and speaks Arabic, gave staff repeated clear instructions about her daughter's allergies. Lily herself even said in Arabic: "I don't want to be killed," Aicha told the Mail. But when the food arrived, it came with vegetables and a sauce they hadn't asked for. Advertisement Lily put a small piece of carrot into her mouth, saying: "Don't be silly mum, it's just a carrot," but her tongue instantly felt itchy. She took an antihistamine and went to the bathroom, then used her EpiPen and went outside for some air. Megan McKenna blasted the Prime Minister today for 'abandoning' a vow to create an 'allergies tsar' After just 15 minutes, Lily was struggling to breathe. She used her second EpiPen and Aicha called an ambulance. Now desperate, the mum ran back into the restaurant to grab her bag of money and passports but, agonisingly, the waiter wasted vital minutes by insisting she paid the bill. Advertisement When she got outside again, Lily was gasping for air and slipping out of consciousness. According to the Daily Mail, she collapsed into her mum's arms and said: "You know Mum, I love you. I'm sorry. Goodbye." With the ambulance nowhere to be seen, Lily's cousins bundled her into their car and rushed to the hospital – but she stopped breathing on the way. 7 Lily wanted to go out for the meal after finding out she had earned a first in the first-year uni exams Credit: Facebook Advertisement 7 Lily's family want to raise awareness about the dangers of travelling abroad with allergies Credit: gofundme 7 Lily was eating at Maya Restaurant and Lounge, Rabat, in Morocco when her throat began to itch Credit: instagram Medics performed CPR but refused to begin further treatment until Lily's mum had written a check - further stalling the process. The desperately ill teen was eventually put on life support - but with no brain activity doctors were forced to switch it off three days later. Advertisement It was found that she had already suffered a heart attack and a catatonic fit, which rendered her brain dead, before being hooked up to the machine. Reflecting on the terrible ordeal, Aicha said: "Neither the waiter nor any of the doctors spoke English. "Without Arabic, it would have been impossible to make myself understood. "It is my mother tongue and yet I still couldn't get the care Lily needed." Advertisement A JustGiving page set up to raise funds for Natasha Allergy Research Foundation has racked up nearly £9,000 in donations.
The Sun
05-08-2025
- Health
- The Sun
Brit teen told mum ‘I'm sorry, goodbye' before collapsing in her arms during fatal allergic reaction on dream hols
A BRITISH teenager told her mum "I'm sorry" after collapsing in her arms from a severe allergic reaction on holiday. Lily King, 18, from Buckinghamshire, tragically died after eating a carrot in a meal to celebrate top grades in her first year at Exeter University while on holiday in Morocco. 7 7 The student was diagnosed with severe allergies to fish and seafood, nuts, sesame, milk and eggs when she was two-and-a-half – and her mum Aicha had packed a whole suitcase of safe supplies. While Lily's childhood had been dominated her allergies - along with eczema and asthma - she hadn't ever needed hospital treatment until five months prior to the holiday. She had bought a burger at a music festival in Exeter and suffered anaphylaxis – the most extreme allergic reaction, where rapid swelling in the throat and tongue cause breathing difficulties and sometimes cardiac arrest. Then, on the last night of their holiday last year, Lily discovered that she had received a first for her first-year exams and wanted to celebrate - so the pair decided to go out for a meal. It was somewhere they had eaten before, including for Lily's 18th, and they were confident that it would pass without hitch. Upon arrival, Aicha, who is Moroccan and speaks Arabic, gave staff repeated clear instructions about her daughter's allergies. Lily herself even said in Arabic: "I don't want to be killed," Aicha told the Mail. But when the food arrived, it came with vegetables and a sauce they hadn't asked for. Lily put a small piece of carrot into her mouth, saying: "Don't be silly mum, it's just a carrot," but her tongue instantly felt itchy. She took an antihistamine and went to the bathroom, then used her EpiPen and went outside for some air. Megan McKenna blasted the Prime Minister today for 'abandoning' a vow to create an 'allergies tsar' After just 15 minutes, Lily was struggling to breathe. She used her second EpiPen and Aicha called an ambulance. Now desperate, the mum ran back into the restaurant to grab her bag of money and passports but, agonisingly, the waiter wasted vital minutes by insisting she paid the bill. When she got outside again, Lily was gasping for air and slipping out of consciousness. According to the Daily Mail, she collapsed into her mum's arms and said: "You know Mum, I love you. I'm sorry. Goodbye." With the ambulance nowhere to be seen, Lily's cousins bundled her into their car and rushed to the hospital – but she stopped breathing on the way. 7 7 7 Medics performed CPR but refused to begin further treatment until Lily's mum had written a check - further stalling the process. The desperately ill teen was eventually put on life support - but with no brain activity doctors were forced to switch it off three days later. It was found that she had already suffered a heart attack and a catatonic fit, which rendered her brain dead, before being hooked up to the machine. Reflecting on the terrible ordeal, Aicha said: "Neither the waiter nor any of the doctors spoke English. "Without Arabic, it would have been impossible to make myself understood. "It is my mother tongue and yet I still couldn't get the care Lily needed." A JustGiving page set up to raise funds for Natasha Allergy Research Foundation has racked up nearly £9,000 in donations.
Daily Mirror
05-08-2025
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Teen Lily King says 'Mum I love you. I'm sorry. Goodbye' before holiday tragedy
Lily King, from Buckinghamshire, collapsed in her mum Aicha's arms during a family holiday in Morocco, following an allergic reaction from food served at a restaurant A teenager told her mother: "You know Mum, I love you. I'm sorry. Goodbye" before she collapsed in her arms following an allergic reaction on holiday. Lily King died four days later from a cardio-respiratory arrest caused by anaphylaxis and triggered by food. She had eaten a tiny piece of carrot at a restaurant in Morocco - where the family had been on holiday to celebrate the teen completing her first year of her economic degree - but instantly experienced allergy symptoms. Within minutes, Lily, 18, was gasping for air and losing consciousness despite taking an antihistamine tablet and using her EpiPen. Her mum, Aicha, recalls: "She said, 'You know Mum, I love you. I'm sorry. Goodbye.' And she collapsed in my arms." The tragedy comes after a man recently died after his wife ran him over in a car park in a "tragic accident". Since Lily's inquest in June, her parents Aicha, 57, and 75-year-old Michael have used the media to urge others to be extra cautious eating out while on holiday. They had chosen a restaurant they had been to before - and that Lily loved - during a previous trip to Rabat, Morocco but her dish was served with vegetables and a sauce Aicha, a fluent Arabic speaker, hadn't requested. It was a small bite of one of these rogue vegetables - a carrot - that led to Lily's swift cardio-respiratory arrest. Speaking this week, Aicha, a carer for the Epilepsy Society, said: "Neither the waiter nor any of the doctors spoke English. Without Arabic, it would have been impossible to make myself understood. It is my mother tongue and yet I still couldn't get the care Lily needed... My daughter was my best friend, my everything... Without her, our life is nothing. "I was so, so careful with everything Lily ate. I cooked everything at my mum's house and brought it to the hotel so we could eat together. We never ate hotel food. The only thing I ordered was tea." Lily, who was from Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, was diagnosed with severe allergies to fish and seafood, nuts, sesame, milk and eggs when she was two-and-a-half. Her asthma inhaler helped open up her airways if she ate one of the foods she was allergic to during her childhood. The only time the student had a severe reaction that warranted emergency hospital care was in January 2024, five months before the Morocco trip, when she bought a burger at a music festival in Exeter, Devon, and shortly afterwards suffered anaphylaxis – the most extreme allergic reaction. Reflecting on this, Michael, who is a set decorator in the movie industry, told Mail Online: "Before then, we didn't think her allergies were life-threatening. This one could have killed her. It changed everything. "We want to spread a warning to anyone travelling to other countries where the laws are different to those in the UK – don't trust anybody,' adds Michael. We had 18 beautiful years with Lily. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would lose her like this."
BBC News
21-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Lily King's parents call for caution after allergy death on holiday
The parents of a teenage girl who died in Morocco from an allergic reaction have urged others to be extra cautious eating out while on King, 18, from Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, had gone for a drink with her mum Aicha, who comes from Morocco and speaks fluent Arabic."The restaurant staff said we had to eat something, and I told them she had allergies and we would rather not eat, but they insisted it would be fine. I told them to be careful and they didn't listen," Aicha told the inquest at Milton Keynes Coroner's Court this week confirmed Lily died on 23 June 2024 from a cardio-respiratory arrest caused by anaphylaxis and triggered by food. "Every time you eat out, especially abroad, it's Russian roulette," said Lily's dad Michael."Most restaurants in the UK are very careful, but many other countries don't have compulsory training programmes for staff around allergies. "Someone needs to warn people who are going on holiday to other countries – not only Morocco – to be very, very wary of eating out. Especially if you don't have the language," he said. Lily had a catalogue of allergies for most of her life, the most severe being seafood, nuts and leaving home to study economics at Exeter University, her parents said the allergies became worse."She wanted to be like her friends – a normal person. That led to her eating out more, but she was always very careful and carried her EpiPen and antihistamine suffered her first ever anaphylactic shock that year while at a festival, and was treated by St John afterwards she travelled to Morocco with her mum to visit family and celebrate completing her first year at chose a restaurant that Lily loved and had been to before. Her mother said she told restaurant staff three times about Lily's food allergies and what she could not eat, before ordering chicken and meal arrived with other food and a sauce on the plate."She literally took a tiny piece of food – we think it was carrot - and tasted it. She got an itchy tongue which she always had before a reaction."She took a Piriton (antihistamine tablet) and used her EpiPen. She said 'I'm going outside to get some air'," explained mum rushed out to join her and gave a second EpiPen injection."She was being very, very strong, because she said, 'Don't stress mum, you know I love you. I love you. I'm very sorry, I'm going', and then she passed out," she said.A trip to the hospital was then delayed by two issues, the family said. The ambulance did not arrive, and Aicha said the restaurant insisted she paid for the food before leaving in her nephew's car."The next day, she came around temporarily but then had a seizure. Later they did a brain scan, but there was no activity," said Michael. His daughter passed away in hospital four days after her visit to the restaurant."We never believed it would come to this. We're devastated."She meant the world to us, she was our baby. We had 18 marvellous years with her," he said. The family said it had tried to take the restaurant to court in order to raise the issue at a national level."We only want the Moroccan government to realise how important it is, and for their hospitality industry to recognise that restaurants should be told to educate their staff."I care about other families going through the same thing," said and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, whose daughter Natasha died in 2016 from an allergic reaction to a baguette, said: "Lily's family did everything they could to keep her safe. "Yet on this occasion even though Lily and her mother flagged her allergies, it still went dreadfully wrong."Lily's death highlights how dangerous food allergies can be and the potential risks of travelling abroad with food allergies." What are the rules in the UK? The UK Food Standards Agency states that food retailers and caterers are required to provide allergen information, as set out in food must:Provide allergen information to the consumer for both prepacked and non-prepacked food and drinkHandle and manage food allergens effectively in food preparationMake sure that staff receive training on allergens Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
