Raising awareness of nut allergies for Amy May
On 12 April 2014, a valued member of the This Morning team Amy May Shead set off for a trip to Budapest. Severely allergic to nuts all her life, Amy carried her EpiPen with her and felt confident she could deal with an allergic reaction should it occur.
However, on the third day of the trip, Amy ate a chicken dish in a restaurant which caused a severe anaphylactic reaction. Amy went into cardiac arrest, it took six minutes for the paramedics to revive her. Amy was placed on life support in the Budapest hospital before being flown home.
Her parents Sue and Roger joined us on the sofa on 12 September 2014.
A statement from Amy's family reads:
"We are two years on from the catastrophic event that occurred in Budapest, when Amy suffered a severe anaphylactic shock which led to cardiac arrest following a single mouthful of food, technically Amy died for six minutes. A diagnosis of severe brain damage has changed our family irrevocably. A young woman with her whole future ahead of her, a job that she loved, and life filled with joy, all taken away in seconds, caused by somebody's incompetence.
After 20 months within the hospital system Amy is medically stable and in January she transferred to a care facility whilst arrangements are made for her to return to live in her parents home.
This move has enabled Amy to begin a programme of intensive privately funded multiple discipline therapy. Amy both enjoys this intensity and is responding positively. Every small development is to be celebrated, whilst understanding that progression from brain injury is a long arduous journey of continued rehabilitation taking tiny steps.
Sadly, public liability insurance is not a legal requirement in Hungary so there is no recompense from the restaurant to aid the massive requirements that need to be met now and in the future, hence continual fundraising efforts by many kind and generous people through The Amy May Trust."