There are times when a young person passes away and it can involve some of the most unusual circumstances. This took place recently when a 13-year-old died after a classmate threw a piece of cheese at him.
Karanbir Cheema was a student in London when his classmate threw cheese at him and hit him in the neck. It occurred on June 28, 2017, and the results were both unexpected and devastating.
At first, this type of interaction between children would not be anything of note, but the innocent act soon turned into a catastrophic event. Karanbir was soon rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
A few days after arriving at the hospital, and despite the efforts of medical professionals, he passed away. His parents were absolutely heartbroken and they faced an even more difficult decision at that time.
The teenager’s mother, Rina, spoke about the difficult choice they had to make in turning off his life support. She spoke about the last moments she had with her son, saying:
“We didn’t want to switch it 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.”
Family and friends as well as the entire school community were overwhelmed with grief as a result of the sudden loss. He did carry an EpiPen, which is used in these types of situations but the EpiPen had expired approximately a year before the event occurred.
Many were wondering if the death of this young teenager could have been prevented as a result of quick medical treatment. He only received one dose of adrenaline before his condition grew worse and eventually, developed cardiac arrest.
The boy who threw the cheese was apparently only ‘playing around’ and he didn’t intend to harm Karanbir. Unfortunately, the devastating consequences were more than anybody expected and it really shows how important it is for schools to raise awareness about these risks.
These types of allergic reactions, whether to dairy, shellfish, peanuts, or any other allergen can quickly deteriorate into something devastating. Even the skin contact from the cheese led to allergy developing and anaphylaxis.
This was an unusual event, as was outlined by a pediatric allergy consultant, Dr. Adam Fox. He said: “Where this case is extraordinarily unusual is the nature of the event that led to the anaphylaxis.
“If it was skin contact alone that caused, in this case, fatal anaphylaxis, I believe that to be unprecedented.”
