Yahoo Movies Woman died after choking from fitting as many Jaffa Cakes into her mouth as possible
A young mother died after choking while attempting to fit as many Jaffa Cakes into her mouth as possible.
Bethan Gaskin, 24, passed out and stopped breathing after the chocolate snacks became lodged in her throat.
The mother-of-one tried to spit them out, but collapsed at her home in Bourne, Lincolnshire on February 22 and was rushed to hospital.
The beauty therapist suffered a heart attack but tragically died at Peterborough City Hospital five days later from sustained brain injuries.
On Friday, Ms Gaskin’s adoptive mother Michele, 52, who witnessed the tragedy take place, warned other revellers of the dangers of attempting ‘food challenges’.
She said: ‘I remember raising my eyebrows when Bethan started the game, thinking ‘how old are you?’ and telling her to spit them out.
‘She was like a little hamster with her cheeks bulging.
‘She danced off to the toilet to get rid of them and it was only a while later we realised she had been gone a long time.’
A friend went to check on Ms Gaskin and found her slumped on the bathroom floor.
Her panic-stricken mother dialled 999 while one of her friends performed CPR as they waited for emergency services to arrive.
Continuing, Michele said: “In my heart I knew we had lost her before they put her into the ambulance. Too much time was passing.”
The family gathered at her bedside to say their goodbyes on February 27. Michelle said: ‘She looked perfect and so beautiful. It was just like she was sleeping.
‘So many people have said they play a similar game with marshmallows. Even my 90-year-old aunt said she does it with Maltesers.
Read more
Woman, 22, jailed for encouraging suicidal boyfriend to kill himself
Happy’ schoolgirl died as she was struck by a train while looking at her phone
Baby girl found dead in an Amazon warehouse bathroom
‘This just shows how fragile we are.’
The family also spoke of the heart-breaking moment they told Bethan’s three-year-old daughter Lili about her mother’s death.
Michele said: “I just told her that mummy was very sick and the doctors couldn’t make her better so she has died and we can’t see her again. We talk about Bethan with Lili and she has asked a few times when we are going to mummy’s.”
Ms Gaskin’s father Joe, 57, added: “We just tell her that mummy is an angel in heaven now.”
“It was the hardest thing to have to answer all those questions when we had just said goodbye.”
Ms Gaskin donated her heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas and one of her lungs.
Joe, a painter and decorator, added: “At the minute it’s too soon, but I think in time it will help us to know that Bethan saved other people.”
Joe and Michele adopted Bethan when she was six months old as well as her brother Joseph when he was born two years later.
Bethan had worked as a carer and was now hoping to pursue a career in the beauty industry.
Dad Joe added: “There was more make-up in her flat than anything else. Bethan enjoyed spending time with her friends and also took part in medieval re-enactments.
“She was also looking forward to raising Lili and giving her the opportunities she enjoyed herself as a child. Her life was just beginning to look up after a tough time.”
In a tragic twist, Michele found a Mother’s Day card Bethan had bought for her while sorting through her belongings.
She said: “Bethan would normally leave everything until the last minute but my nagging was obviously paying off.
“I found a card that she had bought for me but not written on. It was heart-breaking to find it but I’ll still put it up on Mother’s Day.”
Michele said of Ms Gaskin’s 3-year-old daughter: “Lili was her life and she wanted her to experience everything she had done.
“Joseph worshipped his sister when they were younger and now him and Lili are very close.
“Bethan was only 5ft 2ins and Joseph is 6ft but she always put him in his place and now Lili does too. v We were blessed to have her as long as we did.”
