THE mum of a 13-year-old boy who died from a severe allergic reaction has revealed how she can’t forgive the student who flicked cheese at her son.
Karanbir Cheema went into anaphylactic shock when the cheese, half the size of a ‘Post-it’ note, landed on his skin at his school in Greenford, West London.
The teen, known as Karan, collapsed and tragically died ten days later on July 9, 2017.
Today, Karan’s mum Rina told This Morning how she was still taking “one day at a time” after her little boy died from the “thoughtless” act.
Holding back tears, the mum said: “I’m numb.
“I’m still devastated – it’s hard to forgive.”
An inquest into Kara’s death last week heard how the other student, who is now 15, had previously been known for throwing food at other pupils “daily”.
Rina added: “It’s very hard to believe that lack of understanding, especially where he was warned not to do it in school.
“My son wasn’t safeguarded.”
Karan was severely allergic to wheat, gluten, eggs and nuts and suffered from asthma and atopic eczema.
But mum Rina said her son had always been responsible about his allergies, even checking food labels himself.
Reliving the fateful day, she said her “mother’s instinct” kicked in when her son’s school called her to tell her that he had suffered an allergic reaction.
She said: “I knew something wasn’t right.”
I’m still devastated – it’s hard to forgive
Rina
An inquest into Karan’s death last week heard how the school did not have the student’s allergy action plan included in his care plan or medical box.
The school administered an EpiPen, used to treat anaphylaxis, but the adrenaline was out of date.
Grieving Rani said she had been praying for a “last minute miracle” before eventually making the heart wrenching decision to have her son’s life support turned off.
She said today she took some comfort in seeing her son “smiled” as they said their last goodbyes.
The mum-of-one is now urging for more education around allergies – saying people needed to understand how quickly they could turn fatal.
She even suggested students be shown the drastic impact that allergies could have.
The teen involved in the incident apologised during the inquest, saying: “I didn’t mean any harm.
“I’m sorry – I’m sorry for what I did”.
But the inquest found the teen had been “thoughtless”.
Coroner Mary Hassell told St Pancras Coroners’ Court: “This was a childish and thoughtless act, but was not calculated to cause serious harm.
“Karanbir died because he had an allergic reaction to cheese that was thrown at him by another pupil.
“While the allergies from which he suffered are relatively common, his fatal reaction to an allergen that was no ingested but was only ever in contact with his skin is extraordinarily rare.”
Twyford Academy Trust said: “We now hold two spare EpiPens in each of our schools.
“The school had not been provided with an allergy action plan and we fully believe this would have strengthened the school’s healthcare provision.
“The system we have in place for checking medication provided to the school however did not operate as it should have.”
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