“Kind-souled” five-year-old boy Benedict Blythe died after serious allergic reaction at school caused collapse

The mother of a little boy who died after a serious allergic reaction at school has spoken about her ‘curious, funny, kind and loving’ son. Five-year-old Benedict Blythe died in hospital on the day he collapsed, an inquest has heard.

During the first day of the inquest into his death at Peterborough Town Hall, the jury heard that Benedict, who was in his first year at Barnack Primary School in Stamford, Lincolnshire, died in hospital on December 1, 2021 after vomiting at school.

His mother Helen, told the jury: “Benedict was not just a child with allergies, he was a whole universe – curious, funny, kind and loving – and the world should have been safer for him.”

Coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Elizabeth Gray, said the cause of death for Benedict, who was allergic to milk, eggs and some nuts, was recorded as food-induced anaphylaxis. Ms Gray told the jury: “Benedict was five years old at the time of his death. He suffered from asthma and a number of allergies including milk and an egg allergy.”

The inquest heard Benedict was kept home from school on November 30 because he was unwell and had vomited the previous night, but went to school as normal on December 1. The coroner said Benedict ate a biscuit during that school day which he had brought from home and was then offered oat milk by a class teacher, but he refused to drink it.

He then vomited so his parents were called to pick him up, but he vomited a second time and was taken outside for fresh air where he “collapsed”. An adrenaline auto-injector (AAI) was administered by a first aid-trained teaching assistant but Benedict was “not responding” before CPR was attempted. Emergency services were called but the schoolboy died later that day at Peterborough City Hospital.

Giving evidence, Benedict’s mother said that vomiting was “always” the first symptom of his allergic reactions, but “how it played out after that varied”. She said the school was given a management plan with “things we knew as a family and as his parents” about his allergic reactions.

In a witness statement read to the inquest, Mrs Blythe said Benedict was “well-aware” of his allergic reactions, adding: “I believe he had an allergic reaction and this is what caused his death.”

She added that Benedict “woke up as normal and in good health” that morning with no temperature or cough. She described feeling “terrified” when she learnt that Benedict had become unwell.

A video was shown to the jury of Benedict opening his advent calendar before school with his younger sister on the day he died. Mrs Blythe, told the inquest the chocolate he ate from the advent calendar was dairy-free.

She also read a pen portrait to the inquest, saying: “Quick-minded and kind-souled, Benedict’s love of ‘playing numbers’ was one hint to why he joined Mensa when he was four. His superpower was his kind heart, and it’s that kindness that is so missing from our lives.

“The first return to a new school year after his death, children said ‘I wish Benedict was here – he’d stop me feeling nervous’. Aside from the joy Benedict had in his life, he had to develop his own quiet kind of bravery.

“He lived with allergies and chronic asthma, and sometimes that meant missing out — on parties, on snacks other children could eat, on ice creams from the ice cream van – but he never let it define him.

“The day Benedict died, our world broke but what’s even more unbearable is the knowledge that we weren’t alone. Benedict was not just a child with allergies, he was a whole universe – curious, funny, kind and loving – and the world should have been safer for him.”

The Benedict Blythe Foundation was set up in his memory. A fundraiser set up following his death, with money going to Barnack Primary School and the Fenland Light Railway, raised more than £25,000 of a £1,000 target, according to the GoFundMe page.

Along with The Allergy Team, the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association (ISBA), launched the schools allergy code last year to protect children with allergies and set out how schools can keep pupils safe.

The inquest, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.