Man dies after eating fishcake so hot it burned his throat and left him unable to breathe
A British wedding planner has reportedly died after his throat fatally swelled up from tasting a hot fish cake shortly before he was to leave for a charity meeting at lunchtime.
On April 4, 51-year-old Darren Hickey was leaving Ridgmont House, the wedding venue he managed in Chorley, Lancashire, when one of his chefs asked him to try a fish cake.
The delicacy ended up burning his throat and making his voice box swell up. The pain and swelling got so bad that he was no longer able to breathe or swallow food.
As his pain intensified, he was rushed to the Urgent Care Ward at Chorley Hospital but was sent home with paracetamol. He was told to return if the pain got worse.
The next day, Hickey's partner, Neil Parkinson, heard him choking around 9 pm in their Bolton home. "He shouted so I ran upstairs. He stood up choking and coughing so I banged his back but then he slid forward onto the floor," Parkinson said, according to a Metro report.
When he was taken to the hospital for the second time, the damage had spread so deep down his throat that it had to be evaluated by specialist equipment. He died on the same day at midnight.
Dr. Patrick Waugh, the pathologist who performed a post-mortem on Hickey, said that his case was an extremely rare one.
"He's had hot food and stated, 'I've burned my throat'. Then there's pain and he would have had difficulty swallowing because of the pain and then he would have had more swelling which would have made it difficult to breathe or swallow," he said.
"Basically, we normally see this scenario in people who are involved in house fires with inhalation of smoke which burns the airways or in industrial accidents with hot steam," Waugh said.
He added: "The patient can appear well, they will be talking to you, but then the swelling starts."
Seven months prior to his death, Hickey had suffered a massive stroke that left him hospitalized for 18 months, after which he had some difficulty walking and speaking.
Despite his health issues, he channeled much of his energy into charity work which earned him the Inspirational Person of Courage Award by the Stroke Association.
"He was enormously positive and enormously caring and gave to charity – he was a very generous, caring and compassionate man. He was a remarkably strong and resilient man to overcome that stroke," acting senior coroner Alan Walsh said. The case was heard at an inquest recently.