An 18-year-old student tragically passed away on her mother’s shoulder after consuming a meal of chicken and fries while on vacation.
Lily King, hailing from the UK, has been remembered by her family as ‘caring’, ‘intelligent’, and ‘loved by many’ following her sudden demise.
The young woman had just completed her first year at Exeter University and was on a vacation trip to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, with her mother in June.
On the last day of their trip, they went out for dinner at a restaurant they had previously dined at.
Knowing her daughter had multiple allergies, Aicha, who is Moroccan, was very clear with the staff about what Lily ‘could and could not eat’, her husband Michael told MailOnline.
Lily’s allergies included dairy, fish, shellfish, sesame, and nuts. Aicha claimed the waiter reassured her, saying they would be ‘careful’.
Aicha ordered Lily a meal of grilled chicken and fries, ensuring that these items were not mixed in oil, and she received the meal with some vegetables and a sauce on the side.
According to Aicha, the waiter confirmed that the carrots on the plate were cooked only in olive oil and that there was nothing unsafe included.
However, while Aicha was speaking to the waiter, Lily took a bite of the carrots and began to react within minutes.
“Lily said ‘it’s itchy’. I gave her a Piriton (allergy medication), and she used the toilet. After she came back, she said, ‘I can’t breathe’,” Aicha recalled.
“I started calling the ambulance and we went outside so she could try to breathe.
“We used the EpiPen. But I left my bag inside the restaurant, and it had my passport and everything in it. I couldn’t leave it, so I went back inside to get it,” Aicha claimed.
The mom allegedly informed the restaurant that her daughter was ‘dying’, but was asked to pay the bill before leaving again.
“They delayed her from leaving the restaurant by a few minutes that could have actually saved Lily’s life,” her father said.
Lily attempted to use the EpiPen a second time, but the treatment wasn’t enough to halt her reaction.
“I’m screaming, there are security guards outside the door, but no one is helping me, nothing,” Aicha recalled.
Unable to wait for an ambulance, Aicha took Lily on a 30-minute journey to the hospital. By the time they arrived, the teenager had already suffered a heart attack.
Aicha said her only child ‘died on [her] shoulder’.
“She told me ‘I love you, goodbye’ and then passed away,” she said. Lily was ‘basically diagnosed as being brain dead’, Michael stated, but she was kept alive for three days in an attempt to revive her.
Eventually, the parents ‘had to let her go’.
Lily’s cause of death was listed by doctors as a heart attack, but the Kings believe some allergen or cross-contamination on Lily’s meal must have caused her to stop breathing.
Authorities in Morocco have commenced an investigation into the restaurant, though the family is still waiting to hear about the next steps.
Michael hopes to warn parents about being cautious on vacation, stating: “People have just got to be very careful and to educate their children about it.
“We tried our best and we did educate Lily, but she wanted to live.”
Aicha and Michael are now raising funds in Lily’s memory for the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation. You can donate to the cause here.