A 13-year-old boy tragically died after having cheese thrown at him by a classmate.
A boy died after a piece of cheese was thrown at him. Credit: Salima Senyavskaya / Getty
Karanbir Singh Cheema, known as Karan, suffered from an extreme allergic reaction after a piece of cheese was thrown at him from a ham and cheese baguette while he was at school.
The teenager suffers from several health issues, including a severe allergy to dairy products, wheat, gluten, egg, and nuts as well as asthma and atopic eczema, a fact that the young boy who threw the cheese at him said he was not aware of.
During an inquest back in 2019, then then-15-year-old school boy, whose details remain anonymous, recalled the incident at Poplar Coroners’ Court.
Mary Hassell, the coroner on the case, then asked if he knew what reaction someone could get from an allergy and the anonymous teenager said he thought the most the deceased would get was a fever or a rash, adding that he was unaware the allergy was fatal.
Karan was taken to the medical room at William Perkin Church of England High School in London after the slice of cheese, which was described as being half the size of a sticky note, where Piriton was given before his EpiPen was deployed to help his body fight the reaction.
Unfortunately though, it was later discovered that the drug inside the pen was out of date, and by the time the paramedics arrived at the scene, the teen had stopped breathing.
As per the Guardian, Bonny Campbell, a school administrator with first aid training, said that when Karan first arrived at the medical room, he was scratching his neck but sat down calmly.
He reportedly became increasingly panicked and started screaming as he struggled to breathe.
Karan was taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital where it was confirmed that he had gone into anaphylactic shock, which was rare for a contact allergy, and he was put on life support.
But shortly after, the family made the decision to switch the machine off and he died ten days later on 9 July 2017 with his family by his side.
Recalling the harrowing moment they said their goodbyes, his mom Rina told hosts on This Morning that they "didn't want to switch [the life support machine] off - it wasn't fair on his little body to go through this.
"He smiled when the machine was turned off, they took him into another room and we said our last goodbyes before he was taken down and he had a smile on his face," she continued, before adding: "You're always praying for the last minute miracle his brothers and sisters and his uncles were all there beside him."