A bride-to-be has tragically passed away after suffering a fatal anaphylaxis shock after using the wrong spoon to stir her tea.
Last month, newly-engaged 24-year-old Jess Prinsloo was enjoying a romantic getaway in South Africa with her new
fiancé, Craig McKinnon, also 24.
Just days before her death, Prinsloo had agreed to marry partner Craig, after he proposed at the stunning God's Window viewpoint in Graskop, Mpumalanga. Craig would later tell The Mirror that "there was no better place to propose".
However, The Sun reports that the vacation took a tragic turn after Prinsloo - who was acutely allergic to dairy - came into contact with milk while on a visit to her mom's house in Johannesburg on December 30.
It is believed that Prinsloo - a marketing executive from Salisbury, Wiltshire - had accidentally stirred her tea with a spoon with traces of milk on it. As a result, she suffered an anaphylaxis allergic reaction, which caused her throat to close up, restricting her ability to breathe.
She passed away in hospital the following day.
McKinnon has since taken to social media to pay tribute to his late fiancée, writing in a heartbreaking Facebook post: "A post I never thought I’d write. You were supposed to be drinking tea and playing bingo long after I was gone.
"My darling, my angel, my love, my fiancé. The sexiest lady in the room, the funniest potato on the farm, and the [woman] I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Fly high with your Ava sweetheart [...] Rest in peace."
After an outpouring of support from loved ones, McKinnon also shared the following message: "I lost my beautiful Jess, and you all rushed to support me in paying her medical bills and funeral arrangements, I am humbled.
"It’s difficult to find clarity in today, the worst day of my life. But a point I have never been clearer on, the 3+ years I got with my Jess are irreplaceable, and I wouldn’t trade them for 60 years with any other person on earth."
McKinnon went on to describe the three days the couple were engaged as "the greatest three days of his life".
The Sun reports that Craig and Jess met at university back in 2019.
Due to her allergy, The Mirror reports that she did carry two EpiPens should a reaction occur. However, both failed to save her on this tragic occasion.
"When Jess died, a part of me died too – but there is no one to blame for her passing away," Craig told the Mirror. "But, God, she’d had several near-misses."
Jess had been allergic to milk since she was nine months old. McKinnon recalled several occasions where she had required the use of EpiPens and subsequent hospital trips in order to recover. In one instance, she had eaten a curry that contained milk. In another, she had ordered a vegan dessert that incorrectly had dairy in it.
Craig returned to the UK with Jess' ashes earlier this week.
He now wants to help educate others on the severity of allergies to prevent cases like this from happening again.
"It is something people cannot control and it can kill them," he said. "I just want people to listen and understand how serious this is."
A GoFundMe has since been raised to help with Jess' medical bills and funeral costs.
For more information on anaphylaxis and what you can do if somebody around you is having a reaction, click HERE.
Our thoughts go out to Craig, and Jess' family and friends at this time.
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