Boy, 5, Died from Allergic Reaction After Eating Biscuit, Inquest Hears

A little boy died after suffering an allergic reaction at school, an inquest has heard.

According to Peterborough Today, The Independent, and The Times, 5-year-old Benedict Blythe died in December 2021 after eating a biscuit he brought in from home at school.

Per the outlets, the boy was allergic to milk, eggs, and nuts. He also reportedly had asthma.

The inquest was told that he died of food-induced anaphylaxis after he vomited and collapsed at Barnack Primary School in Lincolnshire.

“Benedict was five years old at the time of his death,” Coroner Elizabeth Gray, told the jury, per Independent. “He suffered from asthma and a number of allergies, including milk and an egg allergy.”

According to the reports, Benedict stayed at home from school on Nov. 30 after he began feeling unwell and vomited the night before.

He then went to school the following day, per The Times, and ate a biscuit that he had brought in from home.

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His parents were called to pick him up after he vomited. According to the BBC, this took place around 10:30 a.m. After vomiting again, Benedict was taken outside, where he collapsed. A first aid-trained teaching assistant administered an adrenaline auto-injector, but he didn’t respond. CPR was then attempted before emergency services arrived. Benedict died later at ­Peterborough City Hospital.

PEOPLE has contacted Barnack Primary School for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

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Benedict’s mother, Helen, 37, told the inquest that the first symptom of her son’s allergic reactions was vomiting, adding that “how it played out after that varied.”

Helen also stated the family had given the school a management plan for his reactions with “things we knew as a family and as his parents.” She said she had been “terrified” on hearing from the school that he son had become unwell.

Per The Times, Dr Emilia Wawrzkowicz, said she “strongly” believed that Benedict’s cause of death was anaphylaxis after an initial post-mortem examination ruled that his death was due to asthma.

She told the court: “I wholeheartedly disagreed with this. I was shocked to have seen this,” adding that there was “never any suggestion of ­airway compromise.”

Benedict had his cause of death corrected to food-induced anaphylaxis, according to Elizabeth Gray, the area coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, The Independent noted.

Per the outlet, his mother, Helen, told the inquest that Benedict had to “develop his own quiet kind of bravery” and was “more than his allergies.”

“He lived with allergies and chronic asthma, and sometimes that meant missing out — on parties, on snacks other children could eat, on ice creams from the ice cream van – but he never let it define him,” she said.

She also told the inquest that her son was “Quick-minded and kind-souled,” and loved “playing numbers.”

“His superpower was his kind heart, and it’s that kindness that is so missing from our lives,” she added.