This is first picture of a promising university student who suffered a string of allergies and died after eating a simple ‘chicken and chips’ meal on a family holiday in Morocco.
Lily King, 18, went on a week-long holiday to Rabat, the country’s capital, with mum Aicha, 56, in June to visit family and celebrate getting top marks in the first year of her economics degree at the University of Exeter.
On the final day of their holiday, June 19, the pair went out for dinner at Maya restaurant and Lounge, in Rabat, where they had eaten before.
On its website, the restaurant – which also doubles as a bar and nightclub – claims to offer ‘an exclusive yet impeccable culinary journey’, the ‘finest cuisine’ and boasts a ‘long history of luxury hospitality’.
Mrs King, who is Moroccan and speaks Arabic, was ‘explicit’ with staff about her daughter’s allergies, which included dairy, fish, shellfish, sesame, and nuts, and about ‘what she could and could not eat’, husband Michael, 73, told MailOnline.
Lily King, 18, went on a week-long holiday to Rabat, Morocco’s capital, with mum Aicha, 56, in June to visit family
Lily had not had any serious reactions in all the years she lived at the family home in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, but when she went to university, ‘things got a lot worse’
On the last night of their holiday, the mother and daughter went out for dinner at Maya restaurant and Lounge, in Rabat, where they had eaten before
But ‘within minutes’ of having a mouthful of her ‘chicken and chips’ meal, Lily developed a severe reaction which saw her vomit and run outside as she battled to breathe.
‘She got an itchy throat, which developed into sickness, stomach cramps and breathing problems,’ added Mr King.
‘She used her Epi-pen, which she carried with her at all times.’
But Mr King, a freelance production buyer for film companies, claims that in the ensuing panic when ‘Lily was outside struggling to breathe’, restaurant staff told Mrs King that ‘she couldn’t leave without paying the bill’.
‘They delayed her from leaving the restaurant by a few minutes that could have actually saved Lily’s life.’
A devastated Mrs King added: ‘I explained to him [the waiter] in Arabic three times ‘Please be careful, she is very, very allergic’.
‘He says ‘Yeah no worry, we careful.’
She said she requested a simple meal of grilled chicken and chips not mixed in oil for Lily.
The waiter is said to have brought out a meal of chicken, vegetables with chips and a sauce on the side.
She said in the dark of the restaurant, the vegetables looked like prawns, so she instantly told the waiter to take the meal away.
But he assured her they were in fact carrots cooked in nothing but olive oil, and there was nothing unsafe on Lily’s plate.
The teenager was on holiday to celebrate getting top marks in the first year of her economics degree at the University of Exeter
Mrs King said while she spoke to the waiter in Arabic, Lily took a bite of the carrots, and within minutes began to react to the food.
Mrs King added: ‘Lily said ‘it’s itchy, I give her a Piriton, and she used the toilet. After she came back, she said, ‘I can’t breathe’.
‘I started calling the ambulance and we went outside, so she can try to breathe.
‘We [used] the Epi Pen. But I left my bag inside the restaurant, and it had my passport and everything in it, I can’t leave it, and I went [inside] to get it back.
‘I told the restaurant, ‘my daughter [is] dying outside’. He said to me, to pay the bill before you’re leaving.’
Mrs King said after spending vital minutes settling the bill she went outside the restaurant to help her daughter, who by this point had used her second Epi-Pen, to no avail.
‘I’m screaming, there are security guards outside the door, but no one is helping me, nothing,’ she said through tears.
Lily was ‘pretty careful’ he said, but early in her first year she went into anaphylactic shock after eating a burger at a music festival – despite checking it was safe for her – and was rushed to hospital
Mrs King desperately tried to get an ambulance to come, but with vital minutes slipping away, she was forced to take Lily to hospital in their car.
Mr King said it was 30 minutes before Lily got to hospital, by which time she had already had a heart attack.
A heartbroken Mrs King said Lily, her only child, ‘died on my shoulder.
‘She told me ‘I love you, goodbye’ and then passed away.’
Mr King adds: ‘After the heart attack, she had a catatonic fit which destroyed her brain, and she was basically diagnosed as being brain dead.’
He raced over to Morocco with his older daughter from his first marriage before he and his wife had to make the agonising decision to let Lily slip away.
‘They kept her alive for three days and gave her another test and there was no brain function detectable, and we had to let her go.’
He said doctors at the hospital ‘didn’t say much’ about Lily’s illness, except for there being no brain activity, but asked him and his wife what could have caused it.
‘We told them exactly what happened in the restaurant.
‘But on the death certificate that was issued subsequently, they said her cause of death was a heart attack.’
The Kings fear they will possibly ‘never know’ why Lily’s allergies were ‘ignored or how they were ignored’ by the restaurant, with Mr King believing her meal must have contained an allergen or suffered some cross-contamination.
‘There’s no other cause I can imagine that could have caused her to stop breathing,’ Mr King insisted.
The Kings fear they will possibly ‘never know’ why Lily’s allergies were ‘ignored or how they were ignored’ by the restaurant
Lily had lived with her allergies since birth and Mrs King ‘was always incredibly careful’ with her, educating her about her allergies and taking her own food out with them to ensure she was safe, added Mr King.
He said Lily had not had any serious reactions in all the years she lived at the family home in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, but when she went to university, ‘things got a lot worse’.
Lily was ‘pretty careful’ he said, but early in her first year she went into anaphylactic shock after eating a burger at a music festival – despite checking it was safe for her – and was rushed to hospital.
She developed infections in her kidneys and elsewhere, but she had recovered before the trip to Morocco.
Lily died on June 23 and had two autopsies, one in Morocco and another in England, before her body was released to her parents and she was buried in Beaconsfield on July 10.
Paying tribute to their daughter, Mr King said: ‘Lily was loved by many, many friends.
‘We had 60 or 70 of her friends and colleagues at the funeral, and they all signed a book of condolences, and they said the most marvellous things about her; how she was a shining light and made everybody laugh, and how she helped them with their problems.
‘She was a very caring girl and very intelligent.
‘With all her problems, she still managed to get to grammar school and get three A-Levels with grades for Exeter University to study Economics.
‘She just got her results for her first-year exams, and she got a first – that was the day before she had this anaphylactic shock.’
Mr King said police in Morocco launched an investigation into the restaurant, but the family remain in the dark as to the progress of the case.
He added: ‘It was taken out of the police’s hands and it got given to the prosecutor.
‘We were told we would be notified about the next steps.
‘We want to know what’s going on, we want to know whether it’s going to be brushed under the carpet or whether they’re going to do something about it.’
The Kings have bravely decided to speak out about Lily’s death to seek answers for their daughter and warn other families about the risks of taking children with allergies out to eat, especially abroad.
Mr King added: ‘We’re angry. We’ve been kept in the dark about what they’re doing.
The Kings have bravely decided to speak out about Lily’s death to seek answers for their daughter and warn other families about the risks of taking children with allergies out to eat, especially abroad
‘I just want to protect other English people who might want to go to Morocco with their children who have allergies.
‘I just think people need to know these things.’
Asked what he would say to other families planning to take children with allergies abroad, he said: ‘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.’
He said his message to other parents of children with allergies is: ‘Even if they haven’t already had an anaphylactic shot, it’s like Russian roulette.
‘Every time you eat out, especially abroad, you’re playing Russian roulette with your life.’
Mrs King is adamant that people like Lily with allergies should not be ‘locked in the house’ but should be able to go out and enjoy a meal in a restaurant and be treated with ‘respect’.
The Kings are in touch with Tanya and Nadim, the parents of tragic Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, who died in July 2016 after suffering an allergic reaction to sesame seeds contained within a Pret a Manger baguette which were not listed on the ingredients label.
They are raising money in Lily’s memory for the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, set up by Tanya and Nadim, you can donate to their JustGiving page here.
