Love Island UK star Jack Fowler was rushed to the hospital after a serious anaphylactic reaction aboard an Emirates flight to Dubai, according to an Instagram post he shared yesterday.
Despite multiple warnings to the cabin crew that he had a severe allergy to tree nuts, Fowler was served chicken curry containing cashews and immediately felt the signs of a severe reaction coming on.
He immediately administered his epinephrine auto-injector and was given oxygen for the remainder of the flight.
Upon landing, he was immediately rushed to a hospital.
He posted:
TRIGGER WARNING.
Cant believe I’m having to post this. And I’m posting because people should be aware of the severity of how bad food allergies can be and the complete negligence from emirates airline.I recently flew with Emirates Airline where I was given a Cashew Nut. I made my flight attendant aware of my nut allergy twice before being given a chicken curry. I wasn’t given a menu to chose from, instead I was asked directly if I wanted chicken or fish. I opted for the chicken. When I asked for the chicken I told the air-host that I’m severely allergic to all nuts. I was then told that there was no nuts in the chicken curry. When I received the meal I asked the same flight attendant again to make sure, and again was told that it does not have nuts included. Trusting my flight attendant I began to eat the chicken curry. Immediately my throat closed up and breathing became extremely difficult.
I told a flight attendant I couldn’t breathe and if there was nuts in the food. I was told that there were no nuts in the chicken curry AGAIN. It was only when my friend demanded to see the food menu for the first time did I realise it was a ‘Creamy Cashew Nut chicken Curry’.
This left me with the real possibility of dying on the plane as I knew I needed emergency treatment immediately. I was given five tanks of Oxygen, as well as administering my Adrenaline Pen (Epi Pen). I told the flight supervisor ‘If you don’t land this plane soon, I will die on this plane’. This then lead to the pilot speeding up the journey.
Once we landed I was rushed into Dubais airport Hospital where I continued treatment.
What needs to happen for Airlines to take food allergies seriously??
emirates it is not good enough. I’m lucky to be able to have a platform to make as many people aware of your complete negligence. You are responsible for your passengers and their safety. Giving a passenger food which they’ve stated TWICE will cause extreme harm is unacceptable.
I hope all airlines and cabin crew who come across this post take note. We board your flights and trust the cabin crew to aid us in a safe flight. Take more care.
His post included a of video himself administering an epinephrine auto-injector during the flight as well as photos of him at a hospital in Dubai:
We are thankful Fowler survived and applaud him for going public with his ordeal to educate the public.
Time and again, we have posted tragic events and near misses aboard airliners related to inadvertent exposure to allergens. This must end.
Airlines should have a standard means for passengers to disclose their allergens before flying and forward those disclosures to cabin staff, who should be trained to understand the severity and identify hazards in meals, snacks, and beverages. The airline should then be required to make reasonable accommodations to ensure their passengers are safe during the flight.
We remind our readers that epinephrine is the only drug that can halt and reverse the progression of anaphylaxis, but it can’t save your life if you don’t have it with you. Always take two epinephrine auto-injectors aboard (and everywhere else) and administer one when you first suspect anaphylaxis.
