A teacher claims a chicken nugget meal almost killed her - when an allergic reaction left her in a coma. Amanda Clark happily tucked into a chicken nuggets and fries meal while out with a friend. But half an hour after finishing her meal the 30-year-old said she started to feel seriously unwell, erupting in hives and her tongue ballooned in size. She used her EpiPen to try to ease her symptoms but when she didn't improve she drove to hospital where doctors gave her different types of medication, eventually putting her in a medically induced coma.
The secondary school teacher said: "I'm allergic to all fish. I was at a restaurant with a friend and neither of us had any seafood. I ate chicken nuggets and french fries - there was no fish in that. When we left the restaurant I started becoming ill and the only thing that we can think of was that something had been cross contaminated.
I started to feel unwell 30 minutes after, I got hives first then the swelling started. That's how I knew it was my fish allergy because my tongue swelled up, it's my only known allergy. I went to ER. They gave me three different kinds of EpiPen, one an inhaler, then they had to intubate. I had hives and swelling in the tongue and throat, that was when I was put in the coma. After that I have no memory, it was a very frightening experience.".
Amanda from Richmond, Virginia, US, spent 47 days in four different hospitals before she was discharged, believing her ordeal, which happend on Labour Day weekend, 2023, to be over. But months later in February 2024 she suffered a second horror reaction that stumped doctors and led to a hospital stay that ended months later on December 6th.
