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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
26-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
'Don't let epilepsy stop your ambitions', says Camberley man
A former professional ice hockey player who lives with epilepsy says young people with the condition should never give up on their Franks, from Camberley in Surrey, dreamed of becoming a sportsman but said he thought his plans were destroyed when he was diagnosed at the age of after years of determination and treatment, Adam was invited to train with the first team at the Guildford Flames and was eventually chosen to play for them mark Purple Day on Wednesday - the international epilepsy awareness day - Adam said that epilepsy did not need to stand in the way of a successful career. "When I was diagnosed it was difficult to process," he said."One minute you're a normal kid then the next day your world has changed completely."Adam, now 43, explained that when he was diagnosed with epilepsy, his school didn't know how to support him."If I had one [a seizure] at school then the teachers left me in a room by myself until my parents got there," he said."It's hard to know what to do without panicking, but the main thing to remember is the three Cs - calm, cushion and call for help."The Epilepsy Society recommends anyone who sees someone having a seizure should stay calm, cushion the person's head with something soft, and call for who played two seasons for Guildford Flames and now runs a clothing brand, is joining thousands of others with epilepsy to spread the message of the three Cs on Purple Day.
