A mother has told of her mid-air terror after her teenage daughter blacked out and suffered an allergic reaction at 30,000 feet on a British Airways when a passenger opened a packet of peanuts on board.
Joanna Jones, 39, was flying to London from Antigua when her 14-year-old daughter Poppy needed oxygen and two EpiPen shots during the nightmare eight-hour flight after suffering a severe reaction to the nuts.
As Poppy’s condition worsened, a quick-thinking nurse on board dashed to help – while the captain considered making an emergency landing.
Eventually the pilot landed the plane safely at Gatwick and Poppy was rushed to hospital.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Joanna said: ’It was a nightmare for all of us and I really thought she might die. It was really, really frightening and it was all down to a passenger who carried on eating nuts despite at least two announcements not to.
‘When we boarded the crew asked passengers not to eat peanuts as my daughter has an allergy but as we took off I saw a man around ten rows in front eating nuts.
‘I was worried and asked if we could be moved but there was no availability and the crew asked him to stop eating the nuts but he ignored the requests and carried on.’
While over the Atlantic and three hours short of Gatwick, Poppy suddenly went into anaphylaxis and was saved after Joanna gave her two shots from Epipens she had with her.
The pens contain epinephrine which is a life -saving medication administered when someone suffers a severe allergic reaction.
Frantic cabin crew made an appeal for a ‘doctor onboard’ and a nurse came forward who helped carry stabilise Poppy with an onboard oxygen mask in an emergency medical kit.
Doctors were also alerted via an emergency call centre in Arizona who relayed instructions back to the captain and crew.
Joanna, from Tooting, south London, said: ‘It was so frightening. The pilot declared a medical emergency and at one point they were considering making an emergency landing but in the end he decided to carry on to Gatwick.
