A mother whose daughter died after taking just one sip of a Costa Coffee broke down in tears when discussing the teenager’s fatal allergic reaction on This Morning.
Hannah Jacobs, 13, had a severe allergic reaction to dairy and died within hours of sipping the drink bought at a branch in Barking, east London on February 8 last year.
Her mother Abimbola Duyile was seen crying on the ITV show today after telling presenters Cat Deeley and Ben Shepherd she replayed the events which led to Hannah’s death ‘over and over in my head everyday’.
She said: ‘[I replay it] over and over in my head everyday. I go to bed and look at pictures of her and asked myself ‘maybe I could have done something.’
Ms Duyile claims she had ordered two soya hot chocolates and had also asked the staff to clean the equipment they were using – but this was disputed by the staff member who made the drink.Â
Abimbola Duyile (right) was seen crying on the ITV show today after telling presenters Cat Deeley and Ben Shepherd she replayed the events which led to Hannah’s death ‘over and over in my head everyday’.
An inquest found the 13-year-old died following both a ‘failure to follow the processes’ and a ‘failure of communication’ between staff and Hannah’s motherÂ
Pictured, Costa Coffee branch on Station Parade in Barking, east London, where Abimbola Duyile bought her 13-year-old daughter Hannah Jacobs a hot chocolate
An inquest heard that she was also not shown a book containing dietary requirements, as per Costa’s allergen rules.
It also heard the hot chocolate may have been made with cows’ milk and after the teenager took one sip of the drink, she shouted: ‘That was not soya milk.’
Hannah tasted the drink on the way to the dentist, where she started to feel unwell and was rushed to the chemist by her mother after she complained of chest pains and that her lips and mouth were very swollen and itchy.
Recalling these moments with Sheppard and Deeley, Ms Duyile said: ‘At this point someone said to me ‘should we call an ambulance?’ and I said ‘just give her a minute’ because half of the time that’s what we do at home because she has never had a severe one ever… I screamed for an EpiPen and before I knew it that was it. It was like a movie.’
When they arrived at the chemist there were no EpiPens due to general shortages, pharmacist Santokh Kahlon said at the hearing on August 16.
The senior coroner revealed the ‘national shortage’ of EpiPens at the time meant there was only one available at the pharmacy.
Dr Shirley Radcliffe said that the only one accessible contained less than a third of the adrenaline Hannah had been prescribed and required.
Hannah then went into cardiac arrest and was attended to by ambulance crews. It was at this time that Ms Duyile ‘knew’ she had lost her daughter.
She told This Morning: ‘A stranger called for an ambulance and they came straight away. As soon as they put the defibrillator on I knew straight away… when that did not work I knew this was not happening. I literally start screaming at that point. I just lost it. Your whole life comes crashing down within five minutes. It was very quick.’
A post-mortem found that Hannah died after suffering a hypersensitive anaphylactic reaction to an ingredient in her drink.
Ms Duyile (pictured on This Morning) claims she had ordered two soya hot chocolates and had also asked the staff to clean the equipment they were using
Ms Duyile told the hearing she rushed Hannah to a chemist after complaining of chest pains and that her lips and mouth were very swollen and itchy
Pictured, Hannah’s mother, Abimbola Duyile, holds a picture of her daughter outside East London Coroner’s Court on August 16
The inquest found that the 13-year-old died following both a ‘failure to follow the processes’ and a ‘failure of communication’ between staff and Hannah’s mother.
The coroner also noted that on the day of her death, ‘neither Hannah or her mother were carrying an EpiPen that had been prescribed’.
Experts estimate that 10 Brits die from an allergic reaction to food each year, with 5,000 people hospitalised for severe reactions.
Ms Duyile is now calling on the government to raise awareness about the use of EpiPens in the wake of her daughter’s tragic passing.
Speaking about her daughter, she said: ‘Hannah was a fun child. She was full of life. She loved life. She liked to go out. She liked to be on our phone and go on TikTok. She loved hanging around with her friends and family a lot, so she was very family orientated.’
In a statement, a Costa Coffee spokesman said Hannah’s death was a ‘tragedy and our heartfelt thoughts remain with her family and friends’.
He added: ‘We have strict allergy training and procedures in place to help to minimise the risk to those customers who suffer from allergens, however, we agree with the coroner’s conclusion that our allergen process was not followed that day at our franchise partner store.’
A Department of Health spokesperson said: ‘We have been in ongoing discussions with the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation about improving support for people with allergies and ministers will carefully consider their views and any recommendations made by the coroner following the tragic death of Hannah Jacobs.’
