‘I’m going to die’ – teenager’s desperate words as mother rang NHS 111 line

The grief-stricken mother of a teenager who died after an allergic reaction broke down in court as her daughter’s desperate pleas for help were read out.

Emma Turay clutched a framed portrait of Shante Turay-Thomas as the teenager’s final moments were disclosed during an inquest into her death.

St Pancras Coroner’s Court heard how the student, from Wood Green in north London, said “I’m going to die” moments before she fell unconscious late on September 14, 2018, a week before her 19th birthday.

She died in hospital shortly afterwards.

The inquest heard how Ms Turay spent several minutes on the phone to the NHS’s non-emergency 111 service after her daughter initially reported feeling unwell.

But her condition deteriorated while her mother was seeking medical advice over the phone and her Emerade adrenaline auto-injector pen (AAI) failed to work.

A transcript from the phone call to 111, read at the inquest on Monday afternoon, revealed how Ms Turay-Thomas could be heard in the background, telling her mother: “My chest hurts, my throat is closing and I feel like I’m going to pass out.”

The student then asked her mother to check how long the ambulance would be, before adding: “I’m going to die.”

One ambulance was sent to a wrong address six miles away and the one which did arrive took almost an hour, having initially been assigned as a category 3 response, law firm Leigh Day said.

During the phone call to 111,  Ms Turay described how her daughter said she had eaten hazelnut.

In a statement, Ms Turay said: “She looked at me and told me the Epi pen hadn’t worked.

“I immediately took Shante downstairs and looked in the medical cupboard, and gave her some Piriton (allergy tablets).

“She became unconscious, her lips turned blue and she started to have a seizure.

“I started with CPR, other family members arrived, I was terrified.”

Ms Turay said she was so traumatised by her daughter’s death that she has been unable to return to the family home.

Speaking ahead of the hearing, Ms Turay said: “Shante’s death has left a hole in our family that we will never be able to fill.

“We are devastated that we will not be able to see her grow from the amazing girl that she was into the accomplished adult that she was becoming.

“I hope that the inquest will help provide answers about how Shante died in the way she did.”

Lawyers said the inquest – which is listed to last for three days – will examine a number of alleged failings, including the response by the NHS non-emergency 111 service.

Earlier, the inquest heard that Ms Turay spent 13 and a half minutes on the phone to 111 before the call handler suggested the teenager used her epi pen.

Ms Turay described how her daughter then used the device twice, but said it failed to work.

Coroner Mary Hassell adjourned the hearing until Tuesday morning when 111 call handlers are expected to give evidence.

The coroner warned that the inquest was likely to be adjourned on Wednesday evening to a later date after lawyers for Ms Turay-Thomas’s family complained that they were served hundreds of pages of disclosure on Friday, which they had yet to examine properly.