13-Year-Old Boy With Severe Food Allergies Died After Having Piece Of Cheese Thrown At Him By Classmate

A 13-year-old boy tragically died after being hit by a piece of cheese.

A tragic incident occurred while Karanbir Cheema was attending school in London, UK, on June 28, 2017.

One of his classmates threw a slice of cheese at the youngster, who was allergic to dairy, wheat, gluten, eggs, milk, and tree nuts.

The cheese touched Karanbir's skin and struck his neck, even though he did not consume it.

Karanbir Cheema was just 13 years old at the time of his death. ITV News

Not too long after, he was taken in critical condition to the hospital by ambulance.

Tragically, Karanbir passed away at Great Ormond Street Hospital a few days following the incident.

Post-cardiac arrest syndrome was ultimately determined to be the cause of his death.

The teenager's parents had to decide to turn off Karanbir's life-support machine.

His mother Rina recalled the terrifying moment they had to say goodbye on This Morning, saying, "We didn't want to switch it off because it wasn't fair for 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."

She added: "You're always praying for the last minute miracle his brothers and sisters and his uncles were all there beside him."

Karanbir's mom chose to turn her son's life machine off. ITV News

While at school, Karanbir carried an EpiPen, but it was later discovered that the medication was nearly out of date.

Before the teenager's cardiac arrest, that was the only dose of adrenaline that had been given.

The boy who threw the cheese at Karanbir stated he was merely "having fun" and that he was unaware of his dairy sensitivity.

Severe allergic reactions such as these have occasionally been linked to skin contact, but they are rarely fatal.

According to Sky News, paediatric allergy consultant Dr. Adam Fox testified at his 2019 death's inquest: "Where this case is extraordinarily unusual is the nature of the event that led to the anaphylaxis."

"Because severe allergic reactions through skin contact are very, very uncommon indeed, and if it was skin contact alone that caused, in this case fatal, anaphylaxis, I believe that to be unprecedented."

"I have been unable to find any case reports. I've canvassed widely around this and I'm not aware of any fatal cases."