A teenager uttered to her mother: “You know Mum, I love you. I’m sorry. Goodbye” before collapsing in her arms after suffering a severe allergic reaction whilst on holiday.
Lily King passed away four days later from cardio-respiratory arrest brought on by anaphylaxis triggered by food.
The 18 year old had consumed a minuscule portion of carrot at a Moroccan restaurant – where the family were holidaying to mark her completing her first year studying economics – but immediately suffered allergic symptoms.
Within moments, Lily was struggling to breathe and slipping into unconsciousness despite taking antihistamine medication and administering her EpiPen. Her mother, Aicha, remembers: “She said, ‘You know Mum, I love you. I’m sorry. Goodbye.’ And she collapsed in my arms.”
‘So careful’
Following Lily’s inquest in June, her parents Aicha, 57, and Michael, 75, have taken to the media to warn others about exercising extreme care when dining out during holidays. They had selected a restaurant they had previously visited – one that Lily adored – during an earlier journey to Rabat, Morocco, yet her meal arrived with vegetables and a sauce that Aicha, who speaks Arabic fluently, had not ordered, reports the Mirror.
A tragic nibble of a seemingly innocuous carrot led to Lily’s sudden cardio-respiratory arrest. Aicha, who works with the Epilepsy Society, shared her harrowing experience: “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.”
Asthma inhaler was a lifeline
Hailing from Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, Lily had been diagnosed with severe allergies including fish, seafood, nuts, sesame, milk, and eggs since she was a toddler. Her asthma inhaler was a lifeline, helping her breathe when she accidentally consumed an allergen.
The only other time Lily faced a dire allergic reaction was in January 2024, five months prior to their Morocco trip, after eating a burger at a music festival in Exeter, Devon, which led to anaphylaxis – a potentially fatal allergic response.
Reflecting on that frightening episode, Michael, a set decorator in the film 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.”